iiiiiii; 






ill illlil!liilliii'^S^II|i!i 



WlMt 



ij'liiiiniuiKi'.uu 



'ilDi 






m 



mpi 






mm 



m 



i^uhVi(at"'!-^|i 



li' 



\mu 



SS^Jl OF CONGRESS 




Mm PI i 



iJilHIMIJliS i I iillf 







»»*Tv#T?T»7iTrtr*7nT» ; . I i 1 1 1 1 s [ ij '. i i J f 1 1 m 




Class 

^Book 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSfTi 



THE SOCIAL BETTERMENT SERIES 

EDITED BY 

SHAILER MATHEWS, D.D. 



CITIZENS 
IN INDUSTRY 



1^. 



CITIZENS 
IN INDUSTRY 



BY 

CHARLES RICHMOND HENDERSON, D.D., Ph.D. 

PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY AND HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PRACTICAL 
-SOCIOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 




D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
NEW YORK AND LONDON: 1915 



v^^ 



6^ 



Copyright, 191 5, by 
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 



JUl 26 1915 

©C!I,A406850 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION 

The feeling of social responsibility which char- 
acterizes our day has led to severe criticism of 
various phases of our modern world, and to innum- 
erable plans for social reconstruction. In con- 
sequence, the actual achievements of social better- 
ment have been frequently overlooked in our sense 
of imperative tasks and our distrust of Utopias. 
Nevertheless, steady advance has been made in cor- 
recting evils and in establishing laws, institutions, 
and precedents looking toward the genuine improve- 
ment of social conditions. The present series of vol- 
umes undertakes to describe accurately this advance 
for the general reader. Although written by spe- 
cialists in their particular fields, the plan and method 
of each volume are not technical. The great reading 
public has been pretty thoroughly informed as to 
our social liabilities; the present series will list our 
social assets. Such a presentation it is believed will 
not lead to a complacent optimism, but will serve 
to reassure the rapidly growing class of those who 
are ready and even eager to join in all practicable 
efforts to right evils but who, at the same time, wish 
to maintain the continuity of social evolution. 

Shailer Mathews. 

V 



PREFACE 

This volume is Dr. Henderson's last contribu- 
tion to the cause to which he devoted his life. The 
last work in which he was engaged was the reading 
of its proof. 

The service which Dr. Henderson rendered the 
cause of human welfare was largely in the field which 
this volume covers. True, his interests covered also 
the fields of penology and charity, but few men of 
our day have a more accurate knowledge of the 
conditions affecting the workingman. He was 
called repeatedly into service by his city and his state 
to help solve industrial problems as well as serving 
as the representative of the United States upon the 
International Prison Commission. His attitude to- 
ward the problems of our industrial order was a re- 
markable combination of the scientific spirit and 
warm personal sympathy. There are few men who 
have given themselves as generously or more intel- 
ligently to the needs of their fellow-men, and his 
death was largely due to his efforts as chairman of 
a commission appointed by the Mayor of Chicago to 
relieve the condition of that city's unemployed, 

vii 



Preface 

It is a cause for profound gratitude that In the 
midst of his overcrowded life he found time to write 
the summary of the efforts that are actually being 
made to better the situation of the wage-earners 
throughout the world. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAG2 

I. The Situation and Its Problems . . . i 
The great industry — ^Welfare work — Outline 
of organization and activities along industrial bet- 
terment lines: South Works of the Illinois Steel 
Company, South Chicago, Illinois — Governments 
as employers — The transition from philanthropy 
and welfare schemes to social legislation. 

IL Health and Efficiency: The Fundamental 

Interest of All Citizens . . . .48 
The national interests affected by efficiency of 
workmen — Safety devices — "Safety First'' — Dis- 
ease — Various hygienic measures in the work- 
place — Cost and gain of safety and health meas- 
ures-r-Organization of capitalist managers to pro- 
mote safety and health — New problems for the 
nation to face. 

III. Economic Inducement to Secure Effi- 

ciency of Labor . . . . .117 
Profit-sharing — ^Thrift measures encouraged by 
managers — Compensation is satisfactory. 

IV. Methods of Improving the Conditions of 

Home Life of Employees . . . 168 

Family and home of employees — ^The dwelling a 
primal necessity of life — Benefits of improved hou§- 

ix 



Contents 

CHAPTER PAGE 

ing — ^A suburban plan — Conditions of successful 
plans — Standard for dwellings — Legal obstacles — 
Cooperation with municipalities — Inspection and 
control of dwellings — Octavia Hill methods. 

V. Neglected and Homeless Youthful Em- 

ployees 187 

Responsibility — Homes for working boys — 
Working girls' homes. 

VI. Education and Culture .... 200 

Vocational education — Liberal culture. 

VII. Experiments in Industrial Democracy . 234 
Political rights of the wage-earner — ^The de- 
mand for self-government in the shop — ^Training 

for self-government: representation in manage- 
ment, building and loan associations, education in 
politiqal science, neighborhood centers — Organiza- 
tion and administration of betterment methods 
within an establishment or in a trade on a volun- 
tary basis — Seeking for a basic principle of agree- 
ment — Economic wages — ^Arbitration — ^Attitude of 
the American Federation of Labor toward arbi- 
tration. 

VIII. Administration of Welfare Work and 

THE Social Secretary .... 266 
Functions of social secretary — ^The social secre- 
tary in relation to the principal — ^The personal re- 
lation between employer and employee mediated by 
the social secretary — Natural qualifications of a 
welfare or social secretary — Educational prepara- 
tion of a social secretary for an industrial estab- 



Contents 

CHAPTER PAGE 

lishment — Health conditions : direction — ^Women 
secretaries — ^The ideals of the "capitalist managers*' 
— Educating business managers in social politics. 

IX. Moral and Religious Influences . . 288 
The moral standards in industry — Religion: 
dangers and obstacles — Libraries: advantage and 
disadvantage — Protection of girls in workplaces — 
Farming out the task — Methods of Y. M. C. A. 
in industrial camps — ^The church — Ideals and 
conclusion. 

Appendix. List of establishments which have organ- 
ized welfare work . . . . . • 315 

Bibliography . . . . . . . . 329 

Index . . . . • • . . . 339 



INTRODUCTION 

The title is chosen to indicate the point of viewJ 
It is now generally agreed that all feudal, patri- 
archal, patronizing factors in industry must be 
eliminated. One of the achievements of the In- 
dustrial Revolution was to take the wage-earner 
out of the control of ''status" and secure to 
him the dignity, security and personal responsibility 
of ''free contract" in a political and legal regime of 
equality before courts, legislatures and public ad- 
ministration. Workingmen are justly sensitive to 
any hint of return to serfdom; they resent any at- 
tempt on the part of the employer to direct them in 
their enjoyments, studies, creeds, worship or political 
action. They say they want "justice," not "charity." 

The patriarchal, feudal relation between employer 
and employee, which is disappearing in Europe and 
altogether absent in America, survives in Japan and 
retains much influence there. The legal protection, 
even since the factory law went into effect, is very 
meager; the care of the workers depends on the char- 
acter and disposition of the managers, which vary 
greatly. 

The Hon. Kojiro Matsukata (D.C.L., Yale), a 
distinguished manufacturer, proprietor of a news- 
paper, and statesman of Japan, recently said:^ 

^Japan's Message to America (1914), p. 117. 

xiii 



Introduction 



*'There Is in Japan a social relationship between em- 
ployer and employee that does not prevail In your 
country. It is the relationship of lord and retainer. 
For many centuries, Japan was under a feudal sys- 
tem where the giver of *rok' (or annual pension) 
was the lord, while the recipient of it was the 
retainer. Such feudalistic relations between payer 
and payee have not yet altogether died away in this 
country, though they are gradually diminishing with 
the capitalization of labor. Even to-day, he who 
pays wages is allowed to assume something of the 
mental attitude of the lord — not in a despotic but in 
a protectoral sense — toward those who receive them. 
A young man who was earning his school expenses 
by work in America came into possession of a lengthy 
letter from his mother left behind in Japan, repeat- 
edly advising him to be loyal to the person of his 
master; an^ he looked around to find to his renewed 
surprise that nobody would claim in the Republic 
such personal loyalty as his good old mother must 
have meant. But in Japan there exist many subjects 
for this quasi-feudalistic virtue. . . . My American 
readers may think that the comparative scarcity of 
strikes in Japan is due to lack of self-assertion on the 
part of the laborers ; but that is not quite right. The 
chief explanation must be found in their active loy- 
alty to their employer's person, rather than in their 
passive forbearance." Rare and faint are the sur- 
vivals of this feudal feeling in America. 

Our workmen demand "justice," but justice needs 
a definition; it is a vague word and is used with 

xiv 



Introduction 



various meanings. For our present purpose it 
means **good citizenship"; conduct which furthers 
the life process, which promotes the common wel- 
fare, which harmonizes all interests, or tends to do 
so. The word '^citizen" implies legal and political 
equality, common rights and reciprocal duties, obli- 
gation to further the life of the entire people. The 
special relation of employer and employed is indi- 
cated by the word *^industry"; since the general 
principles of social obligation are here to be applied 
to the contacts and contracts required by the process 
of producing commodities for the world's markets, 
for the satisfaction of human wants. No hint of 
personal superiority or inferiority is suggested by the 
title '^Citizens in Industry," and it clearly describes 
the relation of employer to employed and of both 
to the city, state and nation. The word '^citizen" 
also points to a common brotherhood in the realm of 
ideals, of eternal values. 

^'Citizenship in Industry" is suggestive of proph- 
ecy; it intimates that the modern workingman never 
can be morally content and satisfied as long as his 
mind, will and voice count for nothing in the direc- 
tion of the industry and its product. He may not yet 
be adequately prepared for that responsibility; his 
ambition may outrun his education, but he is looking 
forward to it, and he chafes while he waits.^ 

^Shadwell: Industrial Efficiency, i, 177. 

"The reign of the benevolent employer is over. He gets 
no thanks, and the tendency is all in the direction of secur- 
ing such conditions of employment as will enable the em- 

XV 



Introduction 



The illustrations of methods and principles in this 
book will be drawn from a vast mass of actual cases. 
While advertisements of particular corporations will 
be avoided or minimized, specific examples must be 
used to give concrete form to the discussion. If it 
were attempted to describe all the known schemes of 
particular establishments in detail, the result would 
be confusion, duplication and just complaint of par- 
tiality in selection. It seems wiser to present the 
results of the study of many establishments in com- 
pact form, the principles which underlie the whole 
movement, the inventions which are still in the ex- 
perimental stage, and the problems yet to be solved. 

The conclusions here offered are based on numer- 
ous personal visits and interviews not only in Amer- 
ica and Europe, but also in important establishments 
of th^great industry in India, China, and Japan, 
where European examples and models have been 
adapted to Oriental conditions. No one country 

ployed to provide their own benevolent institutions." ii, 
170-172. 

"Voluntary institutions may be, and often are, more ad- 
vantageous where they exist; but they affect such a very 
small proportion of the industrial population — a few pin 
points in a fifty-acre field — that they hardly count in a gen- 
eral comparison. 

"What labor demands in a modern community is not 
favors, but justice; not gifts, but a fair share of the takings, 
with the means and the opportunity to provide its own wel- 
fare institutions. In itself that is a sound, wholesome and 
proper aspiration, inseparable, indeed, from the organic 
development of society.'' 

xvi 



Introduction 



has a monopoly of patriotism, public spirit, be- 
nevolence, and invention. Ideas quickly travel 
across land and ocean. The magazines and 
books which announce new methods of philan- 
thropy are now found in the Parsee, Hindu 
and Mohammedan counting-rooms of millionaire 
manufacturers of Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, La- 
hore, Shanghai, Tientsin and Osaka. The diffusion 
of the ideas of ^Svelfare work'' in the Orient is ex- 
tremely interesting. One of the most hopeful enter- 
prises of young China is the Commercial Press of 
Shanghai, publishers of educational books, employ- 
ing 1,400 persons, with a payroll of about $20,000 
per month. The buildings are large and commodi- 
ous, well lighted and ventilated; sufficient ground has 
been reserved for the recreation of the employees. 
About four hundred women and girls are engaged in 
the bindery and elsewhere. They are permitted to 
leave the establishment five minutes before the men. 
A woman is allowed a vacation with full pay one 
month before and one month after confinement. 
This establishment is one of the strongest centers of 
education in China and it sets an example which will 
be imitated wherever the great industry makes con- 
quests. Wages are good; a bonus is given in propor- 
tion to the record and Importance of the employee's 
service, and a certain allowance Is set apart as pen- 
sion for the old retired employees or the family of 
the deceased. The system of profit-sharing is Intro- 
duced and the key men of each department are share- 
holders of the company. Clean and comfortable 

xvii 



Introduction 



blocks of dwelling-houses can be rented at moderate 
prices. School privileges from kindergarten to high- 
school training are maintained for their children. 
An evening school is also kept for the younger mem- 
bers of the firm, and a self-improvement club, with 
school facilities, has been opened under the patron- 
age of the company. A small hospital is established 
for the sick employees. Nine hours' work and Sun- 
day holidays are features seldom found in Chinese 
workshops. While this attractive example is rare in 
China, it is prophetic and will be influential as the 
Great Industry makes its way.^ 

A list of many books and articles is appended 
which will enable the reader to go much further into 
special questions than the limits of this book permit. 
This list is at least a partial acknowledgment of the 
author's indebtedness to other investigators and 
students and will be a partial guide to travelers 
studying '^welfare work," or students who wish to 
secure further details. 

If some practical man objects to a discussion of 
such a practical subject from one who is confessedly 
a theorist dwelling in an academic atmosphere, the 
apology may be offered that such a student is natur- 
ally as free from partisan bias as anyone can be 
who has convictions, and that the scientific habit of 
patient collection of facts and criticism of materials 
may be some assurance of reliability. ''Theory" 
does not mean a dream or a guess, but a broader 
view of the facts under consideration and a search 
^ Information furnished by Mr. Fong S. Sec. 

xviii 



Introduction 



for causal connections. Practice is blind without 
theory to guide it by a vision of ends and ways, and 
practice needs the rational justification by proof 
which a sound theory affords. In Goethe's "Faust/' 
the popular scorn for ''academic theory" is expressed 
in the oft quoted lines : 

Gray, dear friend, is all theory. 

And green alone the golden tree of life. 

But those who cite this passage from the great poet 

sometimes forget that ''Goethe knew very well why 

he put these words in the mouth of the Devil." ^ 

^See Dr. R. von Erdberg: Das Programme der Wohl- 
fahrtspflege. 



CITIZENS IN INDUSTRY 

CHAPTER I 

THE SITUATION AND ITS PROBLEMS 
THE GREAT INDUSTRY 

I. Industrial evolution has advanced through 
many stages and forms of organization.^ Primitive 
industries of fishing and hunting passed into pastoral 
and agricultural occupations. Cannibalism was tem- 
pered by domestication of captives as slaves. Serf- 
dom gave the workman a measure of possession but 
bound him to soil and master. The system under 
which we live is complex and varied; for the house- 
hold industry survives in a great part of the earth 
and competes with the immense shops which are fur- 
nished with the finest machinery and steam power. 
In the great urban centers of manufacture the cap- 

1 For details see Biicher : Entstehung der Volkwirtschaft 
(Development of Industry). 

G. Schmoller: Grundriss der Allgemeinen Volkwirt- 
schaftslehre. 

Herkner: Die Arbeiterfrage. 

A. Toynbee: The Industrial Revolution. 

Von Zwieden^ck-Siidenhorst : Sozialpolitik, 

I 



Citizens in Industry 



italist management system is monarch, and it has 
transformed the face of the world. It already shows 
defects and signs of failure and transformation; the 
Socialists are ready to inform us that a substitute has 
been found in their methods; while poets and seers 
already imagine a system which will supersede So- 
cialism. No organization is permanent; all is fluent 
and transitory; but just now we have to work with 
the capitalist manager whose achievements are 
praised, whose faults are cursed, but whose seat on 
the throne at present is firm. Under this modern 
system we have not only private property, but con- 
trol of property used in production in relatively few 
hands, with a tendency to further concentration of 
commercial power. 

The industrial group is composed of a multitude 
of opei^atives and their families. These men are 
equal with their employers before the law, have po- 
litical power in proportion to their numbers, if they 
know enough to use it; but in the work-place they 
are subject to the commands of men who, being in 
control of all the materials and instruments of pro- 
duction, hold over them literally the power of life 
and death, except so far as this power is restricted 
by fear of strikes, humane sentiment, or by regula- 
tion of law. 

2. The great industry, in its social aspect, is a 
form of cooperation between capitalist managers 
and operatives for the production of goods wanted 
by the community.^ The immediate motive on one 

1 J. A. Hobson : Work and Wealth. 

2 



The Situation and Its Problems 

side is profits, on the other wages, and what these 
will buy. 

The modern great industry is, from the social 
point of view, an organized method of cooperation 
in production; individuals find it a divider of men 
into hostile camps. This paradox arises from the 
fact that the elements in production must combine 
or be sterile — land, labor, capital and management. 
Isolated they are barren; only in cooperation do they 
bring forth commodities which satisfy human wants. 
The contradiction is real, not imaginary. The very 
situation gives occasion for friction, irritation and 
conflict. The employer and capitalist manager estab- 
lishes a business to gain profits; if labor costs him 
more, profits are less; at least it seems so to the 
paymaster, and sometimes this is true. The very 
phrase **labor cost'' means different things to the 
men in opposition: to the manager it means money 
paid out for wages, possible abstinence from lux- 
uries and risk of the investment; to the worker it 
means sweat, toil, weariness, pain, danger, exhaus- 
tion, a daily surrender of vitality.^ The antagonism 

^ J. E. Cairnes : Some Leading Principles of Political 
Economy (1874), p. 75. The "cost'' of labor involves the 
elements of duration, severity or irksomeness and risk of 
injury. "In the usual exposition of the doctrine of cost of 
production the only risk taken account of is that incurred 
by the capitalist; but this is merely a consequence of that 
habit of contemplating the work of production exclusively 
from the capitalist's standpoint/' Compare J. A. Hobson: 
Work and Wealth, ch. v, where this idea of Cairnes is devel- 
oped. 

3 



Citizens in Industry 



of interest may be softened, modified, attenuated; 
it cannot be entirely removed by any means yet dis- 
covered. Rough justice must ever take the form of 
estimate and compromise, until social science can 
make its calculation of values much more exact than 
it has yet been able to do, and laws and legal tri- 
bunals have been evolved for an equitable division 
of the product. The most advanced employers will 
try experiments which will help to supply the data 
for a judgment when the time is ripe for law. 

There are cases where the laborer is fully recom- 
pensed for more costly self-sacrifice by corresponding 
advantages; and there are situations in which the 
employer finds higher wages and better conditions 
to be a wise and paying investment. But the area 
of advantage in expenditure is limited and its 
boundary soon reached; then a real conflict must be 
openly f aWd and a tolerable compromise accepted as 
a condition of continued cooperation. 

In strikes and lockouts we see the antagonism in 
flame; but the ashes which conceal strife are never 
quite cool; the volcano always rumbles and smokes 
so long as there is a hot place down below. Socialists 
tell us that the conflict can never cease until the 
whole people, through some form of representative 
government, controls the process and the distribu- 
tion of the product over which the battle wages; 
but that question is for the future. 

3. The compromise of mutual understanding is 
reached with more difficulty partly because the great 
industry has made personal relations difficult or even 

4 



The Situation and Its Problems 

impossible. In the petty relations of fishing, agri- 
cultural and village industries, master and man talk 
out their difBculties while both are toiling side by 
side. The journeyman knows quite closely the 
profits of his master and what it is possible for him 
to pay in wages. But in a great steel mill, or on a 
railway, the capitalists are thousands of unknown 
stockholders, the managers are great men in ma- 
hogany furnished offices, far off as heaven. The 
president sits on Olympian heights, twenty stories up 
in Broadway or Wall Street, New York; while the 
section hands or miners in Colorado wonder vaguely 
how the '*old man'' looks. We may regret the good 
times long ago when employers and employees were 
comrades; but weeping will not save the ancient sys- 
tem. The impersonal corporation, with no body 
that can be kicked and no soul to feel pity or re- 
morse, has displaced the visible and tangible owner 
who was himself a workman. It were as childish 
to wish for the moon as to sigh for an organization 
which is buried beyond recall. 

4. The social necessity of some kind of harmony 
and adjustment is apparent. The waste and loss of 
social friction are enormous ; political stability is in 
peril from class conflicts ; there is a recrudescence of 
savagery in ^^sabotage" ; victory of either side after a 
strike is purchased at awful cost no matter who wins 
or loses; men are degraded by the hatred engen- 
dered; civilization is impeded; health is ruined and 
offspring are born feeble. It is this civil war which 
has induced men of high character to seek at least 

5 



Citizens in Industry 



palliatives of misery in acts of kindness and con- 
ciliation. 

5. There are many signs of a conscious recog- 
nition of the need of harmony between employer and 
employees, and on both sides. The party in power 
must of course make the advances; the party at 
present in power is the capitalist manager.^ The 
capitalist managers, including the great financiers, 
have a position of advantage and power above that 
of ancient kings. A small group of bankers con- 
trols the destinies of millions ; not absolutely, but in 
great measure. They are quite willing the world 
should believe that they are the great men of the 
age. Their contempt for men of rank in other 

1 A representative of good-natured employers has thus 
expressed this growing recognition of a new era : "Consider 
for a moment that almost anything on four wheels was 
selling from ten to fifteen years ago, that the entire country 
had suddenly waked up to the fact that pleasure makes for 
efficiency; that in the old days men responded to pain but 
now to pleasure; formerly to fear, now to hope and ambi- 
tion; formerly that they had to be driven and now that they 
have to be enticed. Summing it up, in the old days in gen- 
eral they advanced because of fear of hell-fire, and now they 
advance in hope of some day riding in an automobile." — 
Arthur E. Colvin. 

This seems to be an echo and practical application of the 
social doctrines of Professor Patten to the effect that the 
civilized world has passed from an age of economic deficit 
to one of surplus, and hence from a "pain economy" to a 
"pleasure economy" which abolishes fear and asceticism from 
morals and theology and calls for harmonious, just and 
rational enjoyment of increased production, 

6 



The Situation and Its Problems 

professions is only too frequently manifested in 
forms which beget deep, rankling hatred, not only 
among wage-earners, but among salaried people. 
The manager of a great mill, factory or railway, 
determines the physical, moral and spiritual condi- 
tions under which human beings must toil all their 
days. Evidently such colossal power, inevitable 
under capitalist management, must be held responsi- 
ble for what it does, or the world is enslaved. His- 
tory shows no instance of irresponsible power which 
did not destroy the character of its possessors, 
whether in army, church, state or business. A spe- 
cial claim is set forth by the most powerful combina- 
tions of capital, precisely those which are most un- 
popular, the most conspicuous targets for criticism 
and unfavorable legislation, that they can do most 
to promote the well-being of the employees. Thus a 
representative of one of the large corporations ^ 
said: 

**Such combinations, to my mind, would be man- 
aged by able, fair-minded men who, though naturally 
engaged upon utilizing the money intrusted to their 
care by the stockholders, in the most profitable man- 
ner, are at the same time conscious of their social 
obligations to their employees, their customers, the 
community in which they operate, and to the people 
at large; and, in addition, possess the imagination 
and foresight to realize that such broad-minded con- 

1 Mr. Magnus W. Alexander (General Electric Company) : 
The Annals of the American Academy of Political and So- 
cial Science, July, 1912, 134 fif. 

7 



Citizens in Industry 



ception of duty and obligation will in many ways 
help, and in no way hinder, the accomplishment of 
their legitimate business purpose." But can society 
count on the voluntary appearance of such managers 
and on their taking this view of their duties, so long 
as they are legally in a position where they can do 
as they please? Does experience teach us that al- 
most royal power tends to develop in the adminis- 
trator's respect for the right of citizens, either con- 
sumers or workmen, unless there is some agent of 
public authority to enforce responsibility? 

Mr. Cyrus H. McCormick certainly is a repre- 
sentative capitahst manager, and of the highest 
type. The following statement may be taken as illus- 
trating the nobler view.^ Mr. McCormick said: 

**There are several companies that have gone 
farther than the harvester companies in making in- 
vestigations and installing work along these better- 
ment lines, but we are making a constant study of 
the question. We purpose making as much progress 
in it as is consistent with certitude. We do not 
want to begin any work and then find a little later 
that for one reason or another it must be dropped. 
We do not believe in publicity for it. In many ways 
its best purposes are defeated by wide advertise- 
ment. The only excuse for talking about work of 
this kind is the hope that it may assist some other 
employers in different parts of the country to know 
along what lines good results have been obtained. 

^ J. K. Mumf ord : Article, apparently an authentic report. 
Harper's Weekly, July ii, 1908, Hi, 22 ff, 

8 



The Situation and Its Problems 



The problem In formulating any system of the sort 
Is to find a common platform from which both em- 
ployer and employed can view the thing; and then 
again to determine the point where business judg- 
ment and the instincts of humanity can meet and 
agree upon conditions which can satisfy the most 
rigid tests when regarded from either standpoint. 
The elements to be reckoned with are many, and 
some of them are difficult quantities, but personally I 
do not believe the common ground is so hard to find 
if it is sought in a wholehearted, disinterested and 
honest wish for conditions that shall be better for 
both parties. It is doubted by many, but to my 
mind has been practically demonstrated that a busi- 
ness can be successful and still not be devoid of 
sentiment. The employer who wants the people in 
his business to work under the very best possible 
conditions as to hours, wages and surroundings, and 
who feels happier when he knows this state of things 
has been obtained, the employee who takes satisfac- 
tion in his work because of the improved environ- 
ment, and because he knows that in providing it the 
employer has no ax to grind — these two men can- 
not, in the nature of things, remain at loggerheads; 
and in their cooperation there can be no question but 
that the utmost advantage comes to both. There are 
tests, however, that must be applied at every step 
of the way, and anything proposed which will not 
stand these tests had better be abandoned before it 
is begun, for it is certain to fail in the end. For 
example, I should say the test of reasonableness was 

9 



Citizens in Industry 



fundamental. Extremes on either side are death to 
welfare undertakings. The employer who makes 
such elaborate outlay that employees and observers 
generally are convinced there is in his action a 
large element of advertising, or of self-gratula- 
tion, is likely to find his work fruitless. The 
man who cannot truthfully tell himself that in his 
effort to better the condition of his employees there 
is absolutely no desire to put them under obligation, 
might as well wait until he can, for there is no man 
more sensitive to atmosphere and impression than 
the workingman; and, undoubtedly with good rea- 
son, he is more suspicious where his employer is 
concerned than with any other being. He is glad 
to have facilities of all kinds and better conditions 
to work under. Anybody would be, and the sur- 
roundings in which people have been compelled to 
labor in hiany instances have been disgraceful. But 
he is bound to resent any amelioration if there has 
lodged in his mind the least suspicion that these im- 
provements are merely a means to an end, a bait 
put forth by the employer to gain some additional 
advantage. There have been too many decades of 
uncomfortable experience for the workingman. 
What wonder that it is hard for him to believe that 
the man who pays him his wages is wholehearted and 
disinterested in doing things which under the old 
system would have been counted manifestly outside 
of the regular line of business? The average work- 
man has not yet reached the point where he can be- 
lieve that an employer is willing and even glad to do 

10 



The Situation and Its Problems 

these things because the benefit from such an under- 
taking is common to them both. He will not approve 
of betterment in conditions nor accept it, if he 
thinks that he is expected, by reason of that accept- 
ance, to forego his claim to fair wages and decent 
hours. And nobody can blame him. It must, in 
short, be clear that the whole affair is mutual: that 
the employer is glad to appropriate part of his net 
earnings for the improvement of the conditions of 
labor; that the employee gives better service of heart 
and hand because he can naturally do so under good 
conditions more easily than under poor ones. And, 
finally, the mutuality of the arrangement should be 
so lived up to that each party shall honestly believe 
he has the good end of the deal. The manner, too, 
in which this work has been done in many cases, has 
made a failure of it. There cannot be any paternal- 
ism in the atmosphere, nor any suggestion of con- 
descension. The workman in America is not looking 
for donations. Nor can the work be carried to that 
extreme of lavishness where it bears the mark of a 
fad. It is easy to push the thing so far that all 
hands can see it is really a hobby and a vanity and 
not a rational, advantageous system; and, indeed, it 
is rather difficult to know just how far to go in 
spending money, where the expenditures may easily 
come to be a drain upon the earnings of the business. 
So, you see, when an employer, either corporate or 
individual, undertakes a work of this kind, there are 
stumbling-blocks and pitfalls almost without num- 
ber, by which the best-meant efforts may be brought 

II 



citizens in Industry 



to worse than nothing. The work is so compara- 
tively new that it has not yet by any means been 
reduced to an exact science. Industrial employers 
are really groping for knowledge of what to do and 
what not to do, employees are in an attitude of doubt 
and partial distrust, and the whole outcome of the 
undertaking in many cases hangs upon a hair. By 
and by experience will have confirmed much, but of 
the wisdom and justice of the general purpose there 
may be no doubt. In our company we are endeavor- 
ing to consider it from a business standpoint and not 
from a humanitarian one. It is difficult to dissociate 
the two. If an employer followed his humane im- 
pulses without the check which business judgment 
applies, he probably would soon be running his 
business plant at a loss, and in a short time would 
have no employment to ofier. But from the stand- 
point ordure business, it is highly desirable that 
conditions should be improved. In the first place, 
the moral effect on the attitude and energy of the 
workman is great, and thus indirectly the work is 
benefited. But perhaps even more important is the 
reflex influence upon the employer and on the entire 
business. There is a point where a work of this sort 
pays good returns to the stockholder as well as to 
the employee, and aside from this there is a per- 
sonal satisfaction to the superintendents of plants 
and to the managers of a business when they dis- 
cover that they are able, without lavish expendi- 
tures or unnecessary waste, to see that business is 
conducted under such advantageous conditions. In 

12 



The Situation and Its Problems 

a company of large size, with diversified interests 
and many employees, it is difficult to move as rapidly 
as may be desired, because a new problem arises at 
every step. A work undertaken at any one plant qf 
a company cannot be adopted until it is decided 
whether it can be installed at the other plants so 
that no partiality shall be shown. Another difficulty 
arises from the employment of many classes, for 
each must be borne in mind and recognized in pro- 
portion to its standing in the business. The danger 
in such a case is that the benefit will be spread out so 
thinly that no one class or one set of employees will 
get enough practical advantage from the work 
done." 

After Mr. C. W. Price, who for a time was at 
the head of the welfare work at the International 
Harvester Company, was rebuked for having sold 
himself to a trust, he said: *Tou seem to have over- 
looked entirely the possibility that the trusts may be 
in earnest in trying to do some good." 

6. Public opinion has become not only more sen- 
sitive, but more intelligent. Noblesse oblige. So- 
ciety has thus far shown willingness to protect the 
lives and property of those Vv^ho amass these incred- 
ible fortunes and who enthrone themselves in posi- 
tions which make ancient emperors seem paupers 
and weaklings. But the tacit assumption is that this 
grant of power is accompanied by affirmation of cor- 
responding responsibility, and this implicit claim is 
gradually taking distinct form in legislation. Pub- 
lic opinion is slowly clarifying itself by demanding 

13 



Citizens in Industry 



a more adequate and scientific analysis of the con- 
ception of welfare. Men are refusing to give the 
last word to mere economic considerations, and they 
are sharply asking for information on the costs of 
production in health, race vigor, intelligence, hap- 
piness and character of the working people and their 
families. They are increasingly inquisitive about the 
real meaning of "national wealth." Perhaps, they 
think too much humanity is consumed to create en- 
dowments for parasitic families of leisure, endow- 
ments which must be replaced by labor at intervals 
of twenty years without any efforts or services on 
the part of those who hold the titles to property. 
Perhaps it would be wiser to have a somewhat 
smaller material product, with fairer distribution and 
better citizens. 

Dr.^ Felix Adler, who is eminent as a prophet of 
ethicalldealism, voices our national protest against 
the idolatry of production : ^ 

*'But, however this may be, certain it is that the 
gospel of work in its narrow and unjustifiable sense 
has become the gospel of this country. What Is 
called the ''industrial spirit" is abroad in every so- 
called civilized land, but nowhere does it display 
Itself with so little check as among us. Work for 
the sake of work is the watchword, and by work is 
meant increased production; and this is the idol to 
which we sacrifice the soil, the trees, our own health, 

^ Felix Adler (New York City) : Annual Address of the 
Chairman of the National Child Labor Committee. Annals 
of the American Academy, Mar., 1910, i ff. 

14 



The Situation and Its Problems 

and the children. We are hard toward them because 
we are hardened against every consideration which 
can check increase of production; because we are 
under a spell — we are ruled by a fixed idea. And 
this, to my thinking, is the real reason why it has 
been so difficult to secure the abolition of child labor 
despite the earnest interest of so many persons in 
this movement. This is the real reason why we find 
opposition in quarters where we should least expect 
it; why we not infrequently find that the so-called 
best men in the community, the men who are known 
as the pillars of charity in their neighborhoods, are 
the most obdurate adversaries of our cause. Busi- 
ness and sentiment, they think, must be kept distinct. 
Business requires increase of production; and since 
even a child's feeble strength, in connection with 
modern machinery, is capable of adding to the heaps 
of products, it seems to them a kind of law of nature 
that even the child should be drafted into the ranks 
of labor, no matter what the ulterior consequences 
may be." 

The public has been at a disadvantage in its criti- 
cism. Humane men have been convicted of misrep- 
resentation even when they wished to be fair and 
reasonable. Business has hitherto kept its secrets, 
and men of affairs have regarded loquacity as a vice 
or weakness. In this respect business resembles war 
with its deceptive strategy. Under the spell of tra- 
ditional individualism, the manager of affairs has 
believed that the public had no right to ask him about 
his conduct. When manifest evil has resulted from 

15 



Citizens in Industry 



his methods; when children have been robbed of 
childhood, workmen of health, and the public has 
been charged with the burden of paying dividends 
on watered stock, and the voice of protest has arisen, 
the managers have often replied that the orator, the 
editor and the preacher were ignorant of business 
and did not know the facts. This was often true, 
because many of the facts were purposely hidden. 

Recently the necessity of publicity has become so 
evident, as in the case of railways and insurance, 
that a much larger measure of investigation and 
report has been accepted, and, consequently, criti- 
cism has more reliable material for its work. It is 
ridiculous to affirm that the business management of 
a huge corporation which affects the health and en- 
joyments of millions of people is a mere private 
affair; s^o ridiculous that the more sincere and saga- 
cious magnates are ready frankly to admit the ab- 
surdity. But they have a right to demand in the 
name of the public welfare as well as their own 
interest that the public inspection and control shall 
be free from mean partisanship and be intelligent, 
competent and fair. The utmost publicity is the best 
protection for all groups of interests involved. 

Public opinion ultimately shapes a program for 
the realization of its higher demands. In Germany, 
where a '^social policy" has been in process of devel- 
opment for ages, even from medieval feudality, 
there is a scientific literature on the subject. In 
America we are only at the beginning of a conscious 
development of such a policy, part of which includes 

i6 



1 



The Situation and Its Problems 

the voluntary activities of enlightened employers, 
which are the subject of the present discussion. 

WELFARE WORK 

7. **Welfare work" is a form of voluntary activ- 
ity of employers for the betterment of conditions of 
employees, by methods which are not yet incorpo- 
rated in legal institutions. This definition would ex- 
clude measures which are essential to the existence 
and conduct of the business itself; as, for example, 
where a corporation, having erected a mill far from 
towns, is compelled to build boarding houses and 
dwellings as a condition of securing laborers. So far 
as the employers try to make these dwellings com- 
fortable and attractive beyond mere necessity, the 
element of ''welfare work" may be recognized. 

In a country where social insurance and protective 
measures are legally obligatory, the accident and 
sickness insurance and old-age pensions are not de- 
pendent on the goodwill of employers, but in the 
United States, where law has not yet developed far 
in this direction, there is large room for voluntary 
action. 

A German writer thus gives these directions as to 
fixing the meaning of the term : ^ 

a. Exclude all those features in which the interest 
of the employer is as great as, or greater than, that 
of employees: for example, a compulsory savings 

^ Dr. Heinz Patthoff (Dusseldorf ) : Soziale Praxis, Feb, 
I, 1912, xxi, 551-553- 

57 



Citizens in Industry 



fund which serves the employer as a reserve fund 
or running capital; or a building association, if the 
building of houses in the neighborhood of the factory 
is necessary for the business; or a canteen, a con- 
sumers' league, etc., by the installation of which the 
employer gains. 

b. Exclude all those features for which the em- 
ployer himself does not actually make expenditures, 
those which the employees themselves conduct inde- 
pendently for bettering their condition — such as a 
savings fund which pays the ordinary interest; sick- 
ness, death, and pension funds to which the employer 
does not contribute; building of houses, the rent of 
which pays the interest in full. 

c. A savings fund used in the business, even 
though it pays larger interest than ordinary, is not 
to be considered a welfare feature, because the em- 
ployer reaps larger advantage from it than its cost 
to him; the interest is not at the employer's expense 
but comes from the profits of the business; similarly, 
pension funds and the like. 

d. If through the working agreement the em- 
ployee is compelled to contribute to welfare features, 
these features must comply at least with the condi- 
tions which are prescribed by law or custom for 
business enterprises of like kind. 

e. The employee should have a share in the 
administration of welfare features. 

The boundaries between voluntary arrangements 
of employers and compulsory methods enforced by 
law are constantly shifting. What was philanthropy 

l8 



The Situation and Its Problems 

yesterday is statute to-day; yet philanthropy has for 
centuries pioneered the way for action of the State. 

8. The purpose of welfare work is to build up 
a community of interest in work and life in such a 
way as to unite workmen and managers in an effort 
to prevent misery, and to make the work itself a 
means of inner satisfaction, and the relation one of 
common striving for the same end, of mutual help- 
fulness, and of material and ideal progress.^ The 
purpose must, therefore, be social and not merely 
private and selfish — civil and not merely personal. 

9. Attitude and Motives of Employers. — So far 
as motives are concerned, we are dealing with in- 
visible and unverifiable factors. It would be very 
interesting to be able to prepare a mathematical 
formula which would represent accurately the com- 
position of the incentives which led to the introduc- 
tion of clean towels, baths, restaurants and rest- 
rooms, as philanthropy and religion 50 per cent.; 
hope of larger product, 25 per cent.; political aspira- 
tions of the patron, 10 per cent.; miscellaneous, 15 
per cent. Such estimates may be amusing, but they 
are scientifically absurd. 

Since we must abandon all hope of measuring the 
force of the various elements of inducement, we 
shall not go far wrong if we give generous credit 
for the subjective feelings and spend our time and 
strength chiefly on studying the objective facts and 
results of the plans and devices. 

^ Aufgaben, und Organisation der Fabrikwohlfahrtspflege 
in der Gegenwart (1910), p. i. 

19 



Citizens in Industry 



Under what conditions is 'Velfare work" advis- 
able from the standpoint of pecuniary advantage to 
the employer and, therefore, most likely to be 
extended? The answer is: In any case where 
the increased efficiency and product cover, or 
more than cover, the cost. It is sometimes diffi- 
cult to measure this cost and the value of the in- 
creased efficiency; but the principle is clear. 

It is possible that welfare work may pay as an 
element in advertising; it may attract customers and 
gain reputation for the brand of goods which seeks 
a market. 

The firm which has a monopoly of the business, 
or a control of patents, may easily do for its em- 
ployees what a competitive firm, manufacturing sta- 
ples, may be unable to do. In case of monopoly, 
the public, the consumers, pay for the comforts and 
advantages in higher prices. 

A related situation is that where a firm sells for 
fifty cents a package which costs it ten cents to make. 
Here again the consumers pay for comforts, while 
the firm gets fame for its liberality.^ When a cereal 
food product is sold at a price which makes a barrel 
of flour cost the consumer $25 to $50, it is clear that 
the manufacturer has a wide margin for presents to 
employees. 

*'No matter how much the manager of a business 
may wish to run it for other things exclusively, or for 
dollars exclusively, he will find that one is not at- 

^ Duncan: The Principles of Industrial Management, 
lOi ff. 

20 



The Situation and Its Problems 

tained without the other. He is forced to run the 
business for the dollar if he wishes to make an ideal 
organization for each member of the human family 
included in it. And vice versa, he must work toward 
the best conditions for all the workers if he wishes 
to protect the capital invested by making a stable 
and fairly long-lived organization." ^ 

We must notice the occasional capitalistic opposi- 
tion to welfare work and its grounds. Mr. C. W. 
Post, once president of the National Association of 
Manufacturers, voiced the feeling of managers of a 
certain type: '^I am not a warm advocate of a lot 
of foolish, misapplied, maudlin sympathy that has 
paraded under the name of ^welfare work.' I don't 
provide any marble bathtubs, lecture-rooms, stereop- 
ticon pictures, free libraries and reading-rooms, or 
free lectures. . . . 

**Men who understand workmen at all realize that 
first and foremost they do not want to be subjected 
to a lot of gifts and charities that would place them 
under lasting servile obligation to the donor, their 
employer. Their subconscious manhood rises in 
revolt, and they hate to meet the boss on the street. 
They are embarrassed and don't feel right. The 
American workman wants an honest, first-class price 
for his labor, and then he wants to be let alone to 
follow his own ideas as to his ways of life and the 
use of his money. If he is badly in need of a book, 
there are ways that he can get one without being 
under obligation to the boss for it. If he wants a 

^ Hartness : Human Factor in Works' Management, p. 68, 



Citizens in Industry ' 



bath, the same thing is true. Pay men the highest 
standard of wages and they will pretty well take 
care of themselves. The welfare work that I be- 
lieve in is that which makes it possible for the 
man to help himself, but it does not include the 
holding of a milk bottle to his lips after he is 
weaned.*' ^ 

On the other hand, a more critical and sober 
attitude is taken by many employers who see the 
advantages of welfare work in better personal 
relations. For example, a certain firm treated its 
employees according to the best standards and won 
their confidence by courtesy and justice. At a critical 
time of depression, when goods could not be sold 
and it required credit to carry the unsold stock, the 
employees sent a committee to the managers to offer 
all their ^savings for the use of the company, if 
needed.^ 

One strong firm explained its reasons, and stated 
its creed as a belief in '^sympathetic, cooperative fel- 
lowship of employer with employee, a fellowship of 
purpose and interest, established not upon the plane 
of paternalism, but upon the plane of recognized and 
honored rights." ^ With this in view one man is 

^ The Survey, Aug. i6, 1913, p. 632. 

2W. H. Tolman: ''Model Industries/' in Peters' Labor 
and Capital, 312 ff. 

^ F. W. Ramsey (Cleveland Foundry Company) : Article, 
"The Employers' Obligation to Safeguard Machinery, and 
the Compensation Plan." National Civic Federation, Tenth 
Annual Meeting, 1909, p. 59. 

ZZ 



The Situation and Its Problems 

hired to devote most of his time to devising ways of 
diminishing hazards. 

Since generous examples are contagious, it may 
fairly be said that it is the duty of corporations to 
give publicity to their efforts to improve conditions. 
Dr. Joseph A. Holmes, Director of the Bureau of 
Mines, said at the first Cooperative Safety Congress : 

*'The most inspiring thing in this whole situation 
is the spirit of cooperation, and I am delighted to 
report that in the mining situation to-day I am finding 
the heartiest cooperation between the miners and the 
mine-owners, and I hope we will also have the co- 
operation of the general public in being fair to both 
the miner and the mine-owner. . . . We all realize 
how important is public opinion, and, in my judg- 
ment, one of the greatest mistakes the large cor- 
porations are making to-day is that they are not 
coming forward and letting the public know the good 
work they are doing." 

In the numerous methods which are to be dis- 
cussed, we shall be able to discern indirectly the 
reasons which explain the creation of these kinds of 
schemes for the improvement of the lot of workers 
in shop and home. 

10. Attitude of Employees. — Not without some 
reason many employees have objected to all forms 
of service which depend on the voluntary conces- 
sions of the employers. The modern workman, 
happily for civilization, is exceedingly sensitive to 
anything which suggests charity. Unlike the medie- 
val serf or mendicant, the urban operative of our day 

23 



Citizens in Industry 



feels degraded and insulted by the offer of alms in 
any form. He sometimes discovers an offense even 
where none is intended. The operative who has 
identified himself with the trade union and believes 
this to be the chief bulwark of his interests is in- 
stinctively antagonistic to any scheme which tends to 
separate him from his fellows and to identify his 
interests too closely with those of the employers. 
He does not wish to accept favors which interfere 
with his freedom to move to better conditions, or to 
strike when his comrades call. 

The enlightened operative desires, so far as pos- 
sible, to have his claims rest not on the caprice or 
benevolence of his master, but on the solid and per- 
manent basis of legal contract which can be en- 
forced in courts. If the favor granted him cannot 
be thus^ assured, it is not attractive to him. Occa- 
sionally ^he operatives believe that gifts and favors 
are thrown to them to divert attention from crying 
wrongs, to make them silent under intolerable 
abuses, and to allay public criticism. There have 
been instances where the corporation furnished 
houses to workmen at low rents but held over them 
threats of eviction at the least sign of resistance to 
their demands. 

In some trade-union criticisms, the note of dis- 
trust is marked and little credit is given for altruism. 
In an analysis of the schemes of betterment chroni- 
cled in a government bulletin they were all explained 
by pecuniary advantage. Some of the plans save 
time and material, as when improved lighting en- 

24 



The Situation and Its Problems 

ables the workmen to speed the process and secure 
a better product. Cleanliness of the place is neces- 
sary where food products are handled and the con- 
suming public is easily disgusted. It pays to con- 
serve the health, safety and lives of workers, since 
change requires expense and effort to select and in- 
struct new men, while injuries cause expense in 
damage suits and expenditures for compensation. 
Regard for comfort and security develops a sense of 
loyalty to the establishment. '^Welfare work is a 
sop to labor." A corporation introduces an insur- 
ance plan and cuts wages to meet the cost. There 
is no welfare work where men are organized; be- 
cause the supreme purpose is to keep out the unions. 
Business men make a pretense of offering some- 
thing for nothing, and that is not business. Real 
welfare work is fair wages and shorter hours of 
labor. If what is called welfare work were sup- 
plied by the unions, they would get the credit and 
become stronger. 

Probably the attitude of Mr. Gompers, President 
of the American Federation of Labor, may be taken 
as typical.^ After commenting on some of the meth- 
ods of welfare work, and showing that none of 
these goes beyond the requirements of enlightened 
self-interest and common decency, as supply of pure 
water, baths, clean towels, good lighting, etc., he 
concludes: '^It should be clearly understood that an 
employer who employs numbers of workers in his 
establishments places them under an organization 

^American Federationist, Dec, 1913, p. 1041. 

25 



Citizens in Industry 



where they Individually have no control over envir- 
onment, and are unable to furnish for themselves 
even the most necessary things such as water, toilet 
provisions, and things of like nature. Any person 
who is in any degree responsible for the well-being 
of human beings, cannot with good conscience dis- 
regard the obligation. If he has intelligent imagina- 
tion and foresight he will refuse to poison the bodies 
and lungs of the workers, or to permit them to 
render their product unfit for consumption, to ruin 
their eyesight or to mutilate their bodies. He will 
do these things to satisfy his own sense of decency 
and justice, and anything less would do violence to 
his conscience and cause him discomfort. Such 
deeds are not favors, but only a decent respect for 
humanity. The spurious kind of welfare work, in- 
tended only to rob the workers of independence of 
action and of just compensation, has met with de- 
served discredit and disrepute. Justice, not charity, 
is the right of all the workers. Let welfare work 
become what it should be — conscience work." 

Another union representative said: ^'Welfare 
work chloroforms the worker and gets the better 
of him. The unionists want to help themselves. 
They do not want to be the objects of patronage. 
It is a noticeable thing that welfare work stops when 
shops become unionized. Shops which give turkeys 
at Thanksgiving stop giving turkeys after the men 
form unions, but the men can buy turkeys several 
times a year, if they care to do so, with the increase 
in wages. This seems to be evidence that welfare 

26 



The Situation and Its Problems 

work is used to keep the men from organizing." — 
Mr. Frey. 

In at least partial answer to the objections of 
wage-earners it has been urged: There is no great 
danger to protective legislation from welfare work, 
because the press, the extension of the suffrage to all 
adults, and the secret ballot, all backed by a growing 
public sentiment, furnish a guarantee that social leg- 
islation will be steadily developed to meet all the 
dangers of industry. Discussions and investigations 
in legislatures keep criticism alive. 

The **patronage" factor tends to disappear with 
the education of the working people and of their 
employers. The welfare work brings an advan- 
tage to the manager* only when it is acceptable to the 
employees, for only then is it an inducement. 

The assertion of legal rights is not likely to be 
weakened because the state organization of inspec- 
tion, independent of the employers, becomes more 
and more effective. The abolition of ^'truck laws'' 
has removed one ground of complaint and source 
of abuse. 

The fact that employers profit by their expendi- 
tures on beneficent schemes is quite consistent with an 
equal or even greater gain to the workmen. It does 
not seem to be generally true that the rate of wages 
is lower with firms which furnish extra advantages ; 
generally higher wages go with each additional com- 
fort and privilege. 

As has been said, it is generally agreed to accept 
the principle that all ^'paternalism," feudal, patri- 

27 



Citizens in Industry 



archal, patronizing elements must be excluded from 
the relations between employers and employees. 
The reasons for this are manifold. One of the 
essential achievements of the industrial revolution 
has been to take the workman out of a condition 
determined by status and secure to him all the dig- 
nity and security of freedom of contract. In this 
relation the employer and employee are supposed 
to be on a level of legal equality. This advanced 
position was won at such cost that intelligent work- 
ingmen will never surrender it, and they are exceed- 
ingly and justly sensitive to any indications of en- 
croachment. The workman has won and intends to 
keep his right to his own career and his own person- 
ality. He wishes and wills to enjoy himself in his 
own way, so long as he does not invade the similar 
rights of his fellow-citizens. He resents any kind 
of direction of his appetites, his tastes, his enjoy- 
ments, his reading, his worship, his creed, his exer- 
cise of political rights. 

Legally and politically he is the equal of his em- 
ployer. When he makes an oral or written contract 
to labor, his obligations are defined and limited by 
that contract, or what is implied in it, by law and 
custom understood of all parties. 

The aspiration of the workman to be a true cause, 
is a real factor in the direction of forces which affect 
his interests. Mr. John Williams, President of the 
Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin 
Workers, Pittsburgh, voiced this ideal : ^ 

^Annals of the American Academy, July, 1912, 3 ff. 

28 



The Situation and Its Problems 

'^The workingman loses his Individuality as soon 
as he enters one of our modern industrial plants. He 
becomes but an atom in the great aggregate of this 
industrial system, and his only hope of regaining his 
social and economic individuahty is by uniting with 
his fellow=workmen in a movement through which 
he will be able to secure a joint bargain with his 
employer for the labor he has to sell." In other 
words, he asks ^'justice" and nothing more; certainly 
not gifts of charity. But again what is **justlce''? 

There are managers who insist, In their reaction 
against welfare work, that they buy labor just as 
they buy iron or wagons ; that their moral obligations 
are fully met when they pay market or contracted 
rate of wages. ^'Justice'' has an Insistent way of 
pushing to the core of problems. Is the analogy 
between ''labor'' and iron or wheat exact? 

*'Labor" is an abstraction and has no concrete 
reality; what we mean are laborers, and laborers 
are human beings with nerves and capacity for suf- 
fering which iron ingots have not. Even in the case 
of horses or mules, a manager of business cannot 
claim to treat them as iron or wheat; for they have 
nerves. 

The employer to be ''just" must take Into account 
the rights of the community, the nation, the race; 
he has no right to exploit the vitality of the people 
for his personal gain. "Justice" is no longer defined 
from a merely individualistic point of view; It is a 
social product. Is social wealth, and is socially defined 
and guarded. 

29 



Citizens in Industry 



The treatment of employees is regulated by law, 
which is the rule of the will of society expressed in 
legal and authoritative form. The requirements of 
'^justice'* are no longer left to private and irrespon- 
sible persons to fix by caprice ; they are discussed in 
public, formulated in the light of conflicting criti- 
cism, and finally set down for the authoritative regu- 
lation of relations between men. It is not safe to 
leave such matters of national interest to private 
parties; and they are not so left. The laws relating 
to child labor, women workers, factory inspection, 
comfort, health and safety, liability and compensa- 
tion for injuries, are concrete examples of public 
definition of the duties of employers to employees. 

These laws are based on justice, not charity, and 
they contain a body of regulations which is con- 
stantly growing and widening and becoming more 
precise and exact. This is legal justice; and it has 
now entered into the shop, the mill, the mine. All 
voluntary generosity must start with this legal 
ground and take it for granted. 

II. Typical Comprehensive Plans. — Before we 
take up particular phases of betterment devices for 
description and criticism, we may select a few exam- 
ples to exhibit the system in which particulars find 
their places. 

A type of the better German welfare department, 
that of D. Peters and Company, is selected.^ This 
company has a special department for welfare 
work. There is a council of '^elders" of sick mem- 

^Shadwell: Industrial Efficiency, ii, 175 ff. 

30 



The Situation and Its Problems 

bers; a member of the corporation is chairman, 
without vote; four members are named by the firm 
and four are selected from the general assembly. 
The duty of the council is to examine the accounts; 
to look after cases of need and misfortune; to super- 
vise the conduct of the younger work-people; to 
encourage them to improve their leisure time; to 
combat rough behavior and drunkenness; to secure 
observance of factory rules, and to prevent waste. 
As representatives of employer and employees, they 
make regulations, fix piece-work price lists, and 
hours of work, and adopt measures to avert danger 
and increase efficiency. The sick benefit club is the 
legal organ of sickness insurance. All employees are 
required to belong to the savings bank fund. Mar- 
ried men deposit 5 per cent, of wages and unmarried 
men 10 per cent. Interest at the rate of 6 per cent, 
is paid on sums less than $500; after that the depos- 
itor disposes of his savings as he pleases. There is 
also a voluntary savings bank, which pays 5 per 
cent, interest. There is a relief fund for the assist- 
ance of persons not protected by the sickness insur- 
ance law. Pensions are provided for by law. The 
workmen are helped to build homes. 

There is a large building for the use and enjoy- 
ment of the people. Bathing facilities are provided, 
and the fees go to the relief fund. A steam laundry 
charges $1.25 a quarter for each family. Wages 
are relatively high, and hours of work have been 
gradually reduced by the firm. 

A Typical American Corporation, — The Milwau- 
31 



Citizens in Industry 



kee Electric Railway and Light Company has devel- 
oped a rather complete system, a description of 
which gives a tolerably fair example of the type. 
The welfare department has for its object '*to pro- 
mote the well-being, the happiness and the content- 
ment of its employees.^' Membership in the Em- 
ployees' Mutual Benefit Association is voluntary. 
It provides for medical care, sick benefits being 
granted in case of illness of more than one week. 
Representatives of the Company visit homes when 
there is sickness or other misfortune, and employees 
call at the office of the welfare department for ad- 
vice. Sick children of the workers are treated med- 
ically at reduced rates. The educational purpose of 
the department is made effective by encouraging the 
use of the public library, a branch being established 
in the public service building, and the reading-room 
is furnislied with technical magazines. The educa- 
tional aim is defined as preparing **the individual to 
reach the highest state of efficiency possible in carry- 
ing out his life-work.'' The educational value of 
play and recreation is recognized in the maintenance 
of a band, an orchestra, a men's chorus, a dramatic 
club, dances, entertainments, poolrooms and bowling 
alleys. 

The economic interests of the workers are pro- 
moted by a pension fund which provides an income 
for those who reach the age of sixty and have been 
in the employ of the Company for fifteen consecutive 
years. Employees who find it necessary to borrow 
arc not driven to the pawnbrokers. In the year end- 

32 



The Situation and Its Problems 

ing March ist, 19 13, 344 loans were made ranging 
from $10 to $100 each; a total of $13,740.50. 

The importance of suitable homes is recognized 
by assisting families living in unwholesome houses 
to move into better quarters in the less congested 
sections of the city. 

Even in such a delicate matter as marital troubles, 
the agent of the Company, a person of tact and fine 
feeling, has been able to secure reconciliation and 
readjustment of the relations of married people, 
thus saving them and their children from disgrace 
and misery. Manifestly such work as this cannot 
be bought with money. A magazine is published 
whose purpose is declared to be *'to strengthen the 
bond of fellowship, the spirit of mutuality between 
man and man." 

The safety work of the Company includes: safe- 
guarding machinery, making various kinds of work 
less hazardous, installing appliances that will protect 
the public as well as the employees, posting of no- 
tices in conspicuous places, pointing out the dangers 
of the street and making a direct appeal to the em- 
ployees to cooperate and make suggestions as to 
methods of preventing accidents. There is a cen- 
tral safety committee, composed of heads of depart- 
ments, which meets every week. Subcommittees are 
composed of superintendents and foremen, and meet 
every two weeks, making recommendations to the 
central committee. There is cooperation with the 
Wisconsin Safety League, which educates school 
children in methods of safety. Cards are issued tQ 

33 



Citizens in Industry 



each employee with suggestions for the prevention of 
accidents. 



OUTLINE OF ORGANIZATION AND ACTIVITIES ALONG IN- 
DUSTRIAL BETTERMENT LINES SOUTH WORKS OF 

THE ILLINOIS STEEL COMPANY, SOUTH 
CHICAGO. ILLINOIS 

South Works covers an area of approximately 350 
acres, on which are located the ore-receiving docks 
and massive bridges and cranes for handling raw 
materials; 1 1 blast furnaces for the smelting of iron; 
26 open-hearth furnaces, and 3 bessemer vessels for 
refining the iron into steel ; 2 rail mills ; 2 blooming 
mills; 2 structural shape mills; i slabbing, and 2 
plate mills; an electric furnace, and complete shop 
system, including machine, bridge, pipe, carpenter, 
pattern, blacksmith, paint, and locomotive repair 
shops, foundries, etc. 

Eighty-five hundred people are normally em- 
ployed, the bulk of whom are foreign laborers. In 
all thirty-two nationalities are represented, and many 
of these aliens are illiterate. The proper treatment 
of so large and so varied a force is a matter of 
intense moment to the officials in charge. To handle 
this problem there was created some eight years 
ago a department of labor and safety, wherein are 
centered the employment, fire, police, accident pre- 
vention, personal Injury settlement, visiting nurse, 
pension, and all other similar activities of the whole 
plant This department is unique In Its operation, 

34 



The Situation and Its Problems 

and has been a very active force in carrying out the 
policy of the general superintendent, viz., that evevj 
man shall he guaranteed a square deal in all his rela- 
tions with the Company, The department of labor 
is supreme in its decisions regarding all questions of 
eligibility (other than efficiency) of all applicants 
for employment, and in like manner, reviews all 
cases of dismissal from the service, which are recom- 
mended by the various department heads, and sees 
that they are not prejudicial to the expressed policy 
of the General Superintendent. When necessary, 
reinstatement is made, and all questions of infraction 
of plant regulations are passed upon directly by the 
Supervisor of Labor and Safety. 

The best results have been obtained through edu- 
cational measures, which are accomplished mainly 
through committees of workmen themselves. In 
each department there is maintained a committee of 
workmen who have general charge of the safety 
work in their own department. 

At this meeting a discussion of all accidents oc- 
curring in the preceding month is read, and the com- 
mitteemen classify the accident according to the fol- 
lowing chart, a majority vote deciding: 

I. Trade Risks, Incidental and Non-preventable 
II. Negligence of Company 

I. Failure to use safety devices provided by 
foremen or others 
35 



Citizens in Industry 



2. Failure to use proper tools or appliances 

provided 

3. Violation of rules by foremen or others 

4. Improper act, or selection of improper 

method of doing work by foremen or 
others 

5. Failure to instruct men as to method of 

doing work, and hazards incident 
thereto by foremen or others 

6. Failure to provide safety devices 

7. Failure to provide proper tools, appli- 

ances or place to work 

III. Negligence of Workmen 
A — Injured Man 

1. Failed to use safety devices provided 

2. Failed to use proper tools or appliances 
V_ provided 

3. Violation of rules 

4. Improper act, or selection of improper 

method of doing work (by work- 
men) 

B — Other Workmen 

1. Failed to use safety devices provided 

2. Failed to use proper tools or appliances 

provided 

3. Violation of rules 

4. Improper act, or selection of improper 

method of doing work (by work- 
men) 
IV. Fault of Other Industry 

36 



The Situation and Its Problems 

There is also read at this meeting a description 
of the accidents occurring at other plants, which 
may be of value in preventing a like occurrence 
locally. Moving pictures are shown and topics dis- 
cussed, of interest to all. The recommendations 
made by the workmen's committees are submitted 
in writing to the superintendent of the department 
affected, and their completion supervised through 
the general plant committee. . . . 

In addition to the immensely gratifying results, 
as effected from a humanitarian standpoint, there 
has been a distinct financial saving effected. It may 
be shown that the cost of installing and maintaining 
the mechanical safeguards, plus the cost of all edu- 
cational work, and the maintenance of an organized 
safety department, is more than offset by the reduc- 
tion in the cost of personal injury settlements. 

Following close on the trail of the accident pre- 
vention is a modest and dignified ^^Anti-Booze 
Fight.'' Officials and safety committeemen alike, 
are putting up for the calm consideration of the 
workmen in general, the various financial, social and 
industrial aspects of the liquor habit. These efforts 
are meeting with a distinctly gratifying success. 
There has not been any attempt made by the officials 
to prohibit the use of liquor by employees. . . . 
That the officials are governing themselves by the 
same principles they would apply to the workmen 
is shown by the increasing number of teetotalers in 
the ranks of officers, and the elimination by them of 
wine at banquets and dinners. Access to the plant 

37 



Citizens in Industry 



for the distribution of milk is granted to milk deal- 
ers, and regular routes and prescribed distributing 
stations are provided by the Company. The daily 
distribution in summer totals 1,400 quarts of milk. 

Two visiting nurses are employed, who visit the 
families of employees for gratuitous nursing service, 
instruction in housekeeping, sanitation, preparation 
of food for the sick, infant welfare, etc. These 
nurses are members of the staff of the Visiting 
Nurses' Association of Chicago, but are detailed to 
the South Works of the Illinois Steel Company, and 
all their expenses are paid by the Company. Some 
idea of their activities may be gained from the fol- 
lowing statistics: 

Total number of patients cared for during 1914. . . . 970 

Total number of visits to homes 3j793 

Total number of office interviews 3)i34 

When the visiting nurses began their work, many 
cases came to light where there was need of imme- 
diate financial or material assistance in the purchase 
of sick-room supphes, etc., but there were objections 
on the part of employees and their families to receiv- 
ing these supplies as a donation from the Company, 
on account of a natural feeling of repugnance for 
charity which exists among American workmen. As 
a result of the need of immediate assistance in cases 
of destitution, and the objection to charitable dona- 
tions, there was organized a *'Good-Fellow Club,'' 
which several hundreds of the workmen have joined. 

38 



The Situation and Its Problems 

The membership dues are optional, between the 
limits of ten and fifty cents per month, and the money 
so raised is placed at the disposal of the visiting 
nurses, subject to certain restrictions by the manage- 
ment of the Good-Fellow Club. The Good-Fellow 
Club is distinctly an employees^ organization, and 
the Company does not contribute a cent to its sup- 
port. The revenue derived from dues and donations 
during 1 9 14 was approximately $4,000, practically 
all of which went for relief work and such items as 
5,906 quarts of milk, 265 grocery orders, wheel- 
chairs, sick-room necessities, porch screens, main- 
tenance of inmates of sanitariums, etc. 

The Club made over an unsightly vacant lot in a 
congested district into a well-equipped playground, 
which was maintained during the summer months for 
the children and babies of the neighborhood. The 
average daily attendance during the summer months 
was 72 children, 10 babies and 25 adults. The total 
number of days spent by children, babies and adults 
combined, according to the daily average, reached 
the startling number of 6,444. 

The Good-Fellow Club was organized in June, 
1912, and incorporated in March, 19 13, and has a 
steadily growing membership. At Christmas time, 
19 14, 191 baskets of dinners and toys were distrib- 
uted to needy families in the neighborhood. 

The Illinois Steel Company practically supports a 
large settlement house, located in this immediate 
vicinity, and known as the South End Center. In 
addition to the support given to this establishment 

39 



Citizens in Industry 



by the Company, the officials of the plant donate 
generously of their individual earnings, many of 
them subscribing to regular monthly gifts of $5.00 
each. It has been the custom at the plant for many 
years to have an annual banquet just prior to Christ- 
mas time, which is participated in by the heads of 
each department and their assistants. Prior to 19 14 
this banquet was usually held in the Loop district, 
and wine was served, bringing the cost of the dinner 
up to $5.00 or more per plate. In 1914, however, 
the organization members voted unanimously to re- 
strict their dinner cost to $1.00 and hold their ban- 
quet in the regular clubroom of the plant, and con- 
fine their entertainment to that furnished by local 
talent. The difference in cost was donated to char- 
ity, and amounted to more than $400. By such acts 
as this, t|ie members of the South Works organiza- 
tion have come to be known as being deeply inter- 
ested in the moral and social betterment of the entire 
community, and the mill men are usually found to 
be active in local organizations, such as the Commu- 
nity Y. M. C. A. plan. The Calumet Recreation 
Association, The South Chicago Business Men's 
Association, and various charitable orders. 

Coal is given free of charge to all of the churches 
in the immediate vicinity of the plant, and to all 
destitute families. Distribution of coal for charity 
is accomplished through the various relief organiza- 
tions, such as the United Charities, the South End 
Center, The Women's Benevolent Association, The 
Catholic Ladies' Aid Society, St Michael's Parish 

40 



The Situation and Its Problems 

Society, etc. In all cases the Company donates the 
coal gratuitously, and in a majority of the cases 
pays the teaming charges as well. In the months 
of October, November and December, 19 14, this 
distribution of coal amounted to 1,376 gross tons. 

The distribution of pensions in conformity to the 
rules of the United States Steel and Carnegie Pen- 
sion Fund, to veterans in the service of the corpora- 
tion's subsidiaries, is carried out through the depart- 
ment of labor and safety. Every month a personal 
representative of the General Superintendent calls 
upon each of the 65 pensioners and delivers a pen- 
sion check, the amount of which is based upon the 
employee's length of service and rate of pay. The 
average amount is approximately $35.00 per month 
per individual. This personal delivery of the pen- 
sion checks enables the General Superintendent to 
keep closely in touch with the veterans, making it 
possible for him to alleviate distressing conditions, 
should they arise. All of the pensioners are given a 
special pass, entitling them to come on the plant at 
any time, and insuring special courtesies from all 
employees. The pensioners are encouraged to visit 
with their former cronies, and a conception of the 
good feeling prevailing generally among the em- 
ployees and management may be had only by partici- 
pation in a reunion of these veterans. 

In this description of the industrial betterment 
activities of the Illinois Steel Company should be 
cited the plan adopted during periods of financial 
depression, viz. : the apportioning of available em- 

41 



Citizens in Industry 



ployment as generally as possible among the needy 
employees. Thus, during the depression of 19 14, 
instead of discharging a large percentage of its em- 
ployees, the Company maintained all the married 
men, and those having people dependent upon them 
for support, on their payrolls, and prorated the 
work among them. There is no doubt but what this 
action had a great deal of effect in preventing a 
large number of cases of absolute destitution. Even 
in times of normal business activity continuity of 
service is fostered by interchanging men among the 
several other departments of the plant, on occasion 
of breakdowns or reduction of force in a particular 
department. 

Another feature of corporation service, having a 
great deal of influence on the relations between the 
workmer\ and officials, is the plan of distribution of 
stock of the Company to employees. For several 
years past the employees have annually been given 
the privilege of subscribing to common or preferred 
stock of the United States Steel Corporation at a 
price slightly under the market quotations. Em- 
ployees are permitted to pay for this stock at a maxi- 
mum rate of 25 per cent, of their salary per month, 
or a minimum rate of $1.50 per month per share 
for common, and $2.50 per month per share for 
preferred stock. 

The stock is set aside in their name on the date 
of subscription and all dividends are credited to 
their account, 5 per cent, interest being charged for 
deferred payments. In addition to the regular stock- 

42 



The Situation and Its Problems 

holder's dividends, there is granted to the employees 
an additional annual dividend for five years, of 
$5.00 per share for preferred, and $3.00 per share 
for common stock. If an employee cancels his sub- 
scription before delivery of the stock is made, all of 
his money is returned to him, plus 5 per cent, interest. 
If he sells his stock, or leaves the employ of the 
Company after stock has been issued to him, he for- 
feits the special dividends referred to above, and 
these are then set aside by the Corporation manage- 
ment into a special fund, which is divided among the 
persistent stockholders at the end of the five-year 
period. The additional bonus derived in this man- 
ner has ranged from $15.00 to over $60.00 per 
share. Besides the very remunerative rate of inter- 
est derived from an investment of this nature, it has 
the added value of encouragement to regular savings. 
From the foregoing it may be deduced that the 
officials of the Company have exercised a benign 
influence, not only in their relations with the men 
within the plant, but outside as well. In fact, it is 
the exercise of broad human interest, and a desire 
to be absolutely fair on all questions, which has con- 
tributed to the remarkable success achieved by South 
Works in a maintenance of satisfactory labor con- 
ditions, and gratifying production and cost records. 

GOVERNMENTS AS EMPLOYERS 

12. Aside from social legislation to control or 
direct the actions of private employers and corpora- 

43 



Citizens in Industry 



tions, we must not forget that federal, state and 
municipal governments are employers of labor on a 
vast scale. The army, navy, post-office, public 
works, schools, police and fire departments are in 
control of a multitude of persons who live by wages 
or small salaries. These great administrative 
organs represent the wealth, honor, reputation and 
duty of the entire people, and they are under moral 
obligations to set an example of humane treatment 
to workers. There are flagrant abuses to correct in 
the conditions of post-office clerks who are forbid- 
den to organize trade unions and present grievances 
through elected representatives. While expendi- 
tures fall on tax-payers, including wage-earners, and 
should not be wasteful or extravagant, and while 
public employees should be strictly held to loyal 
service, there is wide room for reasonable improve- 
ment in conditions, hours, treatment and pay of 
many persons in public employ.^ 



THE TRANSITION FROM PHILANTHROPY AND WELFARE 
SCHEMES TO SOCIAL LEGISLATION ^ 

13. The history of charity indicates the direction 
we are to travel. There we can discover the gradual 
transformation of individual, private, exceptional 

^ The physical condition of certain post-offices is a dis- 
grace and an injustice, especially as organizations of em- 
ployees are suppressed by the administration. 

^Hanus: "Das Programm der Wohlfahrtspflege," in 
Schriften der Zentralstelle fur Volkswohlfahrt, i, 33. 

44 



The Situation and Its Problems 



kindness to custom and law. In medieval times a 
man who founded a school, built a road or bridge, 
or established a hospital for the indigent sick was 
canonized as a saint and even had a surplus of good- 
ness to carry him well on the way to celestial bliss. 
Now roads, bridges, schools and hospitals are paid 
for by public taxation and belong to all. 

It should not surprise us, therefore, to find that 
the benevolent works of employers, which now seem 
to be gracious and liberal gifts, should soon be re- 
quired by law. In the case of old-age pensions, sick- 
ness and accident insurance, hygienic requirements of 
workshops, and vocational training, the transition 
is already far advanced; further evolution in the 
same direction is only a matter of time. This is not 
to the discredit of philanthropy. Civilization owes 
much to the seers and pioneers, and they deserve 
honor. 

The cotton mills of the South have been severely 
criticized by visitors from various parts of the coun- 
try. The opening of a new industry has attracted 
many families from the rural and mountainous 
regions where they lived in extreme poverty, on poor 
soil, without means of transportation, without 
credit for investment, or schools, or outlook for 
the next generation. Since 1880, it is said that of 
the 110,000 operatives now employed in the manu- 
facture of cotton goods in the South, about 80,000 
were twenty years ago poverty-stricken, illiterate, 
discouraged, without skill. The cotton mills gave 
them employment and a cash income they had never 

45 



Citizens in Industry 



before known. ''The first generation of operatives 
coming from conditions above described brought 
fingers so stiffened, hands so hardened by toil, as to 
be totally unfit for handling the soft, unspun cotton; 
it followed that the children, with still supple fingers, 
were pressed into service as spinners.'* At first they 
went joyfully, for it was a novel experience, and the 
shining silver was to them a beautiful sight. They 
did not know what premature factory labor does 
to children; their parents did not know; the local 
physicians had no experience with occupational dis- 
eases; the employers did not always know; there was 
no public opinion, no social legislation, no trade 
unions. Abuses were inevitable; perhaps reports 
have sometimes been ''yellow'' and exaggerated, but 
the reality was too bad to be tolerated long. The 
employees were not totally hardened. Some sort 
of welfare work has been started in every mill in 
North and South Carolina and Virginia. In the 
more advanced villages the mill companies support 
a welfare hospital. New dwellings have been built 
with four to six rooms each. Kindergartens, schools, 
churches, club-houses, recreation facilities have been 
provided.^ 

Experience with depressing conditions in factory 
and home, and employment of child labor, soon 
showed the more progressive manufacturers that 
they were parties to exploitation and destruction of 
life, and conscience pricked them. But some were 

^ Mrs. J. Borden Harriman : Annals of the American 
Academy, Mar., 1910, 47 ff. 

46 



The Situation and Its Problems 

tardy, obtuse, blinded by quick profits, and their 
competition was an obstacle to advance. The Na- 
tional Child Labor Committee, the Consumers' 
League, and humane agitators, perhaps even **muck~ 
rakers" stirred the public mind. The people of the 
South are gentle, chivalrous, just; they need only to 
know what is right to be induced to act. Legisla- 
tion completes the work of individual humanity, and 
brings up the reluctant miser to the level of a fair 
standard. The pioneer philanthropic gifts of 'Vel- 
fare work'' were factors in this improvement. With- 
out excusing the cruelty which has been proved we 
may well believe that the development on the whole 
has been in the direction of larger welfare. A new 
spirit is taking possession of the South and every 
humanitarian cause there has a welcome and a 
sympathetic hearing. 



CHAPTER II 

HEALTH AND EFFICIENCY: THE FUNDAMENTAL IN- 
TEREST OF ALL CITIZENS 

THE NATIONAL INTERESTS AFFECTED BY EFFICIENCY OF 
WOIIKMEN ^ 

The productive power of the workman is a uni- 
versal interest; first of all to the wage-earner and 
his family. Many factors affect the rate of income, 
but individual efficiency is primary. Men are paid 
for pro4uction, and there is a general tendency to 
pay them in proportion to their efficiency. The 
weak, awkward, lazy, blundering mechanic does not 
receive as much as the strong, skillful, industrious, 
accurate and alert fellow-workman at his side. The 
employer is interested in the maximum efficiency of 
the employee because it is one of the chief causes of 
higher rates of profits, interest, or dividends. 
Stockholders are interested, because their invest- 
ments are more fertile in proportion to the increase 
of product. The nation finds in a sound, strong 
and vigorous labor force the physical basis of its 
power and greatness. 

^ See publications of The Life Extension Institute, 25 West 
45th St., New York City. 

48 



Health and Efficiency 



Industrial efEciency is not the end of human 
existence; there are higher concerns; but this is 
essential as a basis; the noblest spire must have a 
solid foundation in the earth. We often hear it said 
— and we say it ourselves in the proper connection — 
that man is more than wealth or production. True; 
but man lives by the productive process and cannot 
live otherwise. 

Nay, take my Ufa and all ; pardon not that ; 
You take my house when you do take the prop 
That doth sustain my house ; you take my life 
When you do take the means whereby I live. 

Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Sc. i. 

Man is more than money, but on this planet man 
cannot live without money, and his present domicile 
and duty are here. 

Socialists sometimes object to the persistent em- 
phasis on efficiency and to the efforts of employers 
to get as much as possible out of their employees. 
It is at once admitted that critics can find only too 
many cases of shameless exploitation of men, women 
and children for the sake of profits and dividends, 
for which no decent excuse can be pleaded.^ But 
industrial efficiency would be just as vital to the 
socialistic state as it is to the capitalistic manager 
system. One chief objection to exploitation is that 
it does not get enough out of the workers. It is 
irrational as well as mean, for it tries to get a ton's 
service out of a pound of fuel. The time will never 

^ C. Hanford Henderson : Pay Day. 

49 



Citizens in Industry 



come when society can relax efforts or be content 
with indifferent, feeble and incompetent operatives. 
It is rational, therefore, for us in the present age to 
do all in our power to improve the quality and the 
energy of labor force. Even now managers are 
learning that the human machine requires exquisite 
care; that strain and fatigue must be avoided; that 
clear brains and steady nerves have an immediate 
value in relation to investments. More strong man- 
agers than ever before have heard the appeal of 
John Ruskin: **Men are enlisted for the labor that 
kills; let them be enlisted for the labor that feeds; 
and let the captains of the latter be held as much 
gentlemen as the captains of the former." 

If ever Socialism comes to control the Industrial 
process, it may make a new selection of managers 
and divid^e the product without reference to profits; 
but if it does not at once plunge the nation into eco- 
nomic ruin it must adopt and improve precisely the 
same kind of devices which we have now to discuss. 
It seems important to make this clear because the 
wage-earners are more and more looking in the di- 
rection of Socialism and are somewhat impatient of 
what their more restless leaders call half-measures, 
unworthy of their attention. The more farseeing 
and instructed among them, however, declare that 
they will take all they can get now and carry it over 
ready-made into the new and happier order which, 
they tell us with exuberant confidence and constant 
reiteration, is almost at the door. At present we 
may leave to these sanguine agitators all the glory 

50 



Health and EfEciency 



of prophets while we invite them to cooperate in 
producing what in any event seems desirable for the 
immediate requirements as well as for the unre- 
vealed future. It is curious that before we discuss 
the means for promoting '^efficiency" we must estab- 
lish the fact that it is desirable; because we con- 
stantly meet objections which assume that it is better 
to restrict production of goods in the interest of the 
wage-earners. If the case were simple, as when 
three brothers are farming their own land as part- 
ners, there would not be a shadow of doubt as to 
the desirability of getting as large a crop as the soil 
could yield to their common labor. The larger 
the product, the larger each individual share. 

Nor does the case seem more difficult to interpret 
In the case of national wealth and production; for 
surely a product of two billion will, if equitably 
divided, give each citizen more means of enjoyment 
than a product of one billion; that is a problem of 
simple division which any schoolgirl can solve with 
pencil and paper. But skepticism arises because the 
product of national industry does not appear to be 
equitably divided. Many men work hard, help in- 
crease national wealth, and enjoy little of the prod- 
uct. Frequently they are crippled in the process and 
abandoned by their brothers and partners in the 
midst of a mighty harvest. It is this actual experi- 
ence which makes many workers skeptical about 
^'efficiency," for it seems to them to increase the 
strain, often to leave them unemployed, and to yield 
no larger wages. 

51 



Citizens in Industry 



The trade-union rules which forbid an exceptional 
man to speed up, to set a pace, to double the product 
of his machine each day, are not altogether foolish 
and wicked. There is a measure of reason in their 
resistance. It will not do to dismiss their objections 
with the assertion of ^'ignorance of economic laws," 
for their leaders are often very keen students of 
economics and they learn in the hard school of 
experience. 

If we desire to win '^organized labor'' to enthusi- 
astic support of our campaign for increased effi- 
ciency, we must make it clear to them, not merely 
by argument but by practical measures, that the 
wages will be increased, that employment will be 
more regular and reliable, and that they will not 
be physically ruined by the new methods. Many 
of the wiser advocates of efficiency understand this 
situation and they are taking measures to set the 
doubts at rest. These methods will be critically ex- 
amined in this and subsequent chapters ; and first of 
all we seek a scientific guarantee that the workers 
shall be improved in vitality and not be used up in 
their toil. 

Even when corporal punishment or dietary dis- 
cipline becomes necessary in prison the doctor stands 
by to see that the pain or deprivation is not carried 
so far as to affect bodily integrity. Surely honest 
workingmen are entitled to at least as much scien- 
tific supervision as convicts while they produce the 
comforts of existence for us all by painful toil and 
frequent peril of life and limb; the physician must 

5^ 



Health and Efficiency 



give scientific precision to standards of health and 
apply them to measures recommended by engineers. 

The ^^captain of industry'' cannot escape the re- 
sponsibility of an officer in command. He represents 
dominion, and inside the shop he is king. Therefore 
it is not charity, but justice which requires him to so 
control the conditions of the work-place that citizens 
of the Republic shall receive no damage. In foreign 
lands, the nation protects its citizens with the sacred 
folds of its flag; it proposes to do as much for its 
citizens in shops. 

It would transcend the limits and plan of this 
book to reprint here the details of measures and 
arrangements of individual employers to protect 
physical integrity and vigor.^ They can all be con- 
veniently, if only provisionally, classified in three 
groups: measures for safety, health and comfort. 
Of course this or any other division must be some- 
what arbitrary, because the devices may have for 
their purpose two, or even all, of these ends. 

It is true that we are considering here only the 
voluntary activities of employers; while many of 
these devices are either already matters of legal 
obligation or are certain to be included by law in 
the near future. Yet it is proper to consider these 
measures in this connection because the welfare 
work of the more advanced and thoughtful employ- 
ers pioneers the way for laws, shows what is advis- 
able and practicable, technically and financially, and 
creates public opinion in favor of requiring the in- 

"^See W. H. Tolman: Safety, chap. III. 



Citizens in Industry 



ferior managers to come up to the level of the 
superior. 

There is always a difference of quality in the use 
of safety devices, even when legally required, in an 
establishment inspired by a humane spirit and in 
another where nothing but pecuniary profit is con- 
sidered. There is always opportunity for goodwill 
and quick intelligence even under the most advanced 
legislation. Law can never do the work of kind- 
ness and honest desire to benefit our fellow-men; it 
can never go beyond the average and the necessary 
standard; it can never be equal to the best possible. 
It is not so much a question of expenditure of money 
on costly protective devices, but more a question of 
competent, alert and sincere direction by the man- 
agers. In some large corporations certain repre- 
sentative^of the directors, with special training for 
their duties, are set apart for the administration of 
these measures.^ 

SAFETY DEVICES 

The capitalist managers of manufacturing estab- 
lishments are as a rule ready to protect the physical 
integrity of the employees; it is fair to say that the 
deliberately negligent or cruel employer is rare. 
Nevertheless the statistics of accidents and diseases 

^ E, G. In the famous Krupp plant at Essen, Germany, 
which employs about 60,000 men, about one-fourth of the 
whole board of directors give all their time to the welfare 
institutions. — Mr. Parker, National Civic Federation, Tenth 
Annual Meeting, 1909. 

54 



Health and Efficiency 



due to occupation reveal an appalling number of 
injuries and deaths which might be prevented by the 
use of measures already approved by trial. The 
chief difficulty seems to be that hitherto stockholders 
and managers have never in this country tried to set 
before themselves a modern standard of protective 
and preventive measures, and no adequate means 
exist for their education; although organization to 
this end is being rapidly developed. 

It is true that the employers' liability laws have 
done something to remind managers that they might 
be obliged to pay heavily for an injury or a death 
due to their own negligence. But the law contained 
no definite standard in itself, and the judicial inter- 
pretations have been vague, contradictory and exas- 
perating to workmen; the awards have been uncer- 
tain, the litigation costly and tedious; while the 
workman had little chance, pitted against company 
physicians and lawyers or the claim agents of power- 
ful casualty companies, to make his claim appear 
just. The influence of such a law on the prevention 
of accidents and sickness has been real, but by no 
means satisfactory; in many situations it has been 
imperceptible in the presence of multiplied disasters. 

Responsible organizations of manufacturers have 
recently admitted and sincerely advocated the prin- 
ciple that a business which injures men should pay at 
least part of the cost of human wreckage which it 
produces and not load the charity funds of the com- 
munity with this burden. This principle has been 
generally accepted and has already been embodied 

55 



Citizens in Industry 



in ^'compensation" laws and ^'accident insurance" 
laws of several states of the Union; and these new 
laws require the employers to pay indemnities to 
injured workmen even when negligence of the em- 
ployer could not be proved, as it seldom can be 
proved. 

Still more effective is the ^'factory legislation" 
which prescribes a standard of safety and health, 
provides for inspectors, and penalizes managers who 
refuse or neglect to use the protective measures re- 
quired in the law. These laws are continually re- 
vised and improved, medical inspectors are some- 
times added to the force, and the degree of security 
is enhanced. 

Where industrial insurance is required to guaran- 
tee the compensation, and the premium rates are 
raised on lowered with the number of the injured, 
the interest of the employer in preventing accidents 
and sickness is increased, and he is more eager to 
avoid such losses by using suitable modern appli- 
ances. 

Not only do employers need education in this 
noble art of human conservation, but the workmen, 
themselves, require information and training. In 
the last analysis no devices can take the place of 
personal intelligence, watchfulness and care. Every 
shop should provide thoroughly and systematically 
for the instruction and drill of the force, so that 
at any moment any workman would know what to 
do in case of fire, or injury from any cause, to apply 
**first aid to the sick and injured," and how to use 

56 



Health and Efficiency 



the costly appliances Introduced for the comfort, 
safety and health of the employees. 

The clear duty and real Interest of the capitalist 
manager In relation to the law Is to see that It Is 
enforced in good faith, that Its working is carefully 
watched for results, and that when It falls to work 
well It should be studied by some Impartial and com- 
petent association with a view to Its amendment.^ 

Here is a program of obligations drawn up by a 
competent authority on occupational hygiene.^ 

Responsibility of Employers 

1. Mental and physical fitness of employees. Physical 

examination prior to employment and periodically 
thereafter. 

2. Wages 

a. Adequate to maintain the employees as to (i) 

proper food (2) clothing (3) hours for rest and 
recreation, and thereby maintain an efficient and 
healthy mind and body 

b. Increase or promotions according to length of serv- 

ice to provide for family and increase in family 

c. Adequate to save for an old age or pay for oLd-age 

pension 

3. Place of Employment 

a. General sanitary conditions (i) proper heating (2) 
proper humidity (3) proper lighting (4) no 

^ In this connection the Wisconsin system is specially 
worthy of study. See J. R. Commons : Labor and Adminis- 
tration, and the publications of the Wisconsin Industrial 
Commission. 

2 Dr. B. S. Warren : "United States Public Health Ser- 
vice/' in Public Health Reports, May 29, 1914. 

57 



Citizens in Industry 



overcrowding (5) proper ventilation (6) proper 
cleaning ( 7 ) clean w^ater supply 

b. Special dangers ( i ) substitute harmless or least dan- 

gerous material for use of dangerous material 
w^henever practicable (2) safe handling of dan- 
gerous material by mechanical devices, etc. 

c. Removal of dust, gases, fumes 

d. Safeguarding against accidents 

e. Equipment necessary for personal hygiene ( i ) wash- 

ing facilities (2) toilets (3) rest-rooms (4) lock- 
ers, etc. 

4. Mental and physical energy expended 

a. Hours of labor (i) length of work day (2) over- 

time (3) night work 

b. Fatigue (i) rest, recreation and sleep necessary to 

eliminate waste and restore body cells prior to 
beginning day's work (2) posture, speed of work 
or attention required which causes unusual strain 
^o be eliminated when practicable, or adequate 
rest periods to be allowed (3) monotony of occu- 
pation as cause of fatigue 

5. Age and sex of employees 

a. No child labor under fourteen years 

b. No night work for women, young people, or chil- 

dren 

6. Compensation for sickness and accident incident to 

employment 

7. Regular employment in so far as practicable 

8. Medical supervision by company physicians 

a. Prompt medical and surgical aid 

b. Sanitary inspections 

c. Elimination in an equitable manner of the mentally 

and physically unfit 

58 



Health and Efficiency 



9. Contributor to sick insurance fund 
10. Education of employees 

a. Prevention of disease 

b. Prevention of accidents 

c. Special rules for dangerous processes 

He also shows that employees themselves have 
their duties as to : home environment, places of sur- 
gical relief, contribution to sick-insurance fund, edu- 
cation. The State responsibility relates to housing, 
hours of labor, minimum wage scale, medical super- 
vision, pure food regulations, pure water supply, 
special measures to prevent disease, regulation of 
social insurance or compulsory sick and old-age 
insurance, and education. 

"safety first" 

Naturally attention was first directed to the pre- 
vention of so-called ''accidents," that is injuries 
caused by some external object, as hammer, wheel, 
or a current of electricity of high voltage; because 
these injuries produce visible mutilations and spec- 
tacular sufferings which are directly and obviously 
due to the employment; while the connection of occu- 
pation with disease may not be clear without pro- 
longed and skillful medical investigation. 

Teaching Safety, — A good illustration of the ne- 
cessity for intervention of managers in the conduct 
of employees is found in the perils to physical in- 
tegrity from the ignorance and carelessness of men 

59 



Citizens in Industry 



in hazardous ^ occupations. It Is all very well to 
say that men are capable of taking care of them- 
selves; but multitudes of our laborers are simple 
peasants from European agriculture, and they know 
nothing of the perils of a coal mine, a steel mill, or 
a machine shop; nor have they any means of finding 
out ways of safety. It has been said that men love 
life and freedom from pain; but they are forgetful 
and must be reminded constantly and warned of 
points of danger. Brave men are ashamed to show 
timidity in the presence of their fellows ; and this very 
good quality of courage is their peril. It is the man- 
ager who has the right to give the warning and no 
one else, and he is primarily responsible for neglect. 

Men are organized into groups, with the motto 
''Safety First." If a member of the group notices 
that a fellow-worker is carelessly risking life or limb, 
he reports him, and a fine or suspension compels him 
to consider more carefully the next time he walks 
on the railway tracks, or swings on a footboard cov- 
ered with ice, or leaves a loose board to trip the 
next brakeman on the top of a freight car. 

The superintendent in a steel works posts no- 
tices In the Polish, Croatian, Roumanian, Slovak, 
and Hungarian languages: ''Wear goggles when 
working around circular saws, chipping, handling 
acids, cutting cables, working at emery wheels." 

The Industrial Commission of Wisconsin has Is- 
sued this circular of warning and instructions : 

^ Any occupation is ^'hazardous" in which workmen are 
hurt. 

60 



Health and EfBciency 



**The Industrial Commission [of Wisconsin] has 
recently investigated the experience of a number of 
manufacturing concerns which have made reductions 
of from fifty to seventy-five per cent, in accidents. 
Below is given a brief outline of the ways and 
means which these companies have found to be the 
most effective in getting results. 

^^Guards /-j — Inspection and Education 2-j 

**All of these companies have found that not more 
than one-third of the reductions which have been 
made, have been accomplished by means of mechan- 
ical guards or any mechanical equipment, while two- 
thirds have been accomplished by education, inspec- 
tion and cooperation of the workmen. 

^^Begin at the Top — Officers Must Do Their Share 

*^The first step in safety organization is for the 
owners of the business to recognize safety work and 
to give it a legitimate place in the organization, and 
then to prove their interest by appropriating the 
money and equipping their plant with proper safe- 
guards. Unless the officers do their part, the fore- 
men and workmen will not take safety seriously and 
will not do their part. An attitude of absolute 
frankness should be assumed by the employers and 
their superintendents, and the whole problem of 
accidents, their cause and prevention, should be 
discussed with the workmen and both should as- 

6i 



Citizens in Industry 



sume their responsibility. When the superintendents 
or foremen are responsible for an accident It should 
be frankly admitted, and when the workmen are to 
blame It should be stated with equal frankness. By 
far the most important factor In reducing accidents 
is to get the real Intelligent Interest and cooperation 
of the workmen, and without frankness this is im- 
possible.^ 

^^Instruct Every Man 

"It is Indispensable for safety that every work- 
man, especially every new man and every non-Eng- 
lish speaking man, should be carefully instructed by 
his foreman with regard to the dangers of his job. 
This should be done In a frank and kindly manner, 
and he should be made to appreciate the part which 
the company is doing and the larger part which he 
alone carr do in protecting himself and his fellows. 
Books of rules, bulletins and signs have been found 
useful In Instructing the men and keeping before 
them the subject of safety. 

^Workmen Are the Best Inspectors 

"In practically all of the companies which have 
accomplished the largest reductions in accidents, the 
plan has been adopted of appointing committees of 

^ It should be remembered that under the old employers' 
liability law, when negligence must be proved by the work- 
man, frankness was heavily fined and the most powerful 
moves to concealment and deception were at work on both 
sides. Accident-insurance laws remove this temptation. 

62 



Health and Efficiency 



rank-and-file workmen as inspectors. One to three 
men are appointed in each large department to serve 
one or two months and are given an opportunity 
once a week, or once a month, to make inspections 
and to report their findings and recommendations to 
the superintendent. This has served four valuable 
purposes: first, when the men are recognized and 
given responsibility, they at once take a new interest 
in safety and take pride in making a good record; 
second, through their new interest in accidents the 
men acquire much valuable information regarding 
the cause and prevention of accidents; third, it has 
been found that these workmen's committees dis- 
cover hundreds of small points of danger which 
arise even in the best-guarded shops and which can 
only be ferreted out by men who are on the job 
and near the work; fourth, these inspectors become 
'^boosters for safety" and do much to interest their 
fellow-workmen and induce them to do their part. 
In several companies ninety-five per cent, of the 
recommendations of the workmen have been ac- 
cepted and have actually been carried out. It goes 
without saying that every foreman should carefully 
inspect his department day by day in order to elimi- 
nate weaknesses which arise or recur from time to 
time. 

^'Safety Inspector Needed 

**It has been found that even in the smallest plants 
It Is advisable to appoint some one man who will be 
responsible for looking after safety. In the smaller 

63 



Citizens in Industry 



shops this man may spend only one hour a day but 
he should be the spokesman and make it his busi- 
ness to see that proper reports of accidents are made, 
that guards which have been ordered are installed, 
that th^ inspection work is carried on promptly, etc. 

^^ * Boost for Safety^ Meetings 

^'In many companies foremen's meetings are held 
once a month, at which meetings the subject of safety 
is discussed, accidents which have occurred are care- 
fully gone over and ways and means of prevention 
are worked out These meetings are invaluable to 
enable the superintendents to keep the foremen lined 
up and to keep alive the interest and enthusiasm in 
safety work. Meetings of workmen have been found 
equally valuable. At these meetings the whole prob- 
lem of accidents, their cause and prevention, should 
be openly discussed, the officers of the company 
should squarely face their responsibiHty and the 
large part which the workmen must do should be 
carefully pointed out. 

''Get Your Men With You 

**The companies which have had the longest ex- 
perience in safety work more and more emphasize 
one point, namely, that only poor results can be at- 
tained unless the employer is able to reach his men 
and to win their confidence and cooperation so that 
they will feel that he is doing his full part and will 
appreciate the part which they must do in order 
to secure safety for all.'' 

64 



Health and Efficiency 



By eternal vigilance, fatalities and injuries are 
reduced in number; the method of constant warn- 
ing, under instructions from the authorities, bears 
good fruit. Night meetings are held; the men dis- 
cuss the causes of recent accidents and how they 
might have been averted; the stereopticon is used 
to set the situations accurately and vividly before 
their eyes as they talk. 

The National Council for Industrial Safety in 
calling its Second Safety Congress (Sept., 19 13) 
declared that federal records show: '^Every hour 
232 workmen killed or injured; every 15 minutes a 
workman killed; every 16 seconds a workman in- 
jured; every year 2,035,000 workmen killed or in- 
jured;'^ and that nearly one-half this tragical loss 
might be prevented. On their letterhead is a strong 
figure of Humanity looking at an advertisement of 
an ocean-going vessel, in which it was boasted that 
this line excelled in luxury, elegance, speed, grandeur 
and magnitude ; and the wise and gentle woman holds 
before them all the word ''Safety." ^ 

Great ingenuity and pedagogic skill have been 
shown in this new campaign of '^safety first." The 
officer of the Santa Fe Railroad wrote: 'We are 
just closing a three and one-half months' trip with 
a moving-picture and stereopticon lesson which we 
have already shown to 30,000 of our employees, en- 
deavoring to point out by these pictures defective 
conditions and irregular practices which have caused 
personal injuries in the past." It is believed that 

^ First Cooperative Safety Congress, Milwaukee, 1912. 

65 



Citizens in Industry 



the vivid and melodramatic pictures will impress the 
lectures as merely written or spoken words could 
not do. 

Eyes. — Defective vision lowers industrial effi- 
ciency; sound eyes are a social asset, which it pays 
well to conserve. Judging by examples of advanced 
action, it would seem that before long oculists will 
be regularly employed and paid to make periodical 
inspections of all employees and to prevent loss of 
sight by prescribing glasses and giving instruction 
in hygiene of the eyes. In a very large corporation 
it may be possible to have the entire service of an 
oculist; but it would not be difficult to form a circle 
of cooperating firms for the purpose when each is 
too small to afford an oculist of its own. 

Safeguards. — ^A great corporation announced its 
ideal and^purpose to be this: '^Every gear, every 
belting, every set screw, every wood-working ma- 
chine, every metal-working machine, spinners in 
twine mills, elevator landings, and, in fact, every 
place where liability to accident may possibly exist, 
we propose to surround with a safeguard." They 
employ inspectors and expend vast sums of money 
to realize this ideal. 

Reporting Injuries. — In the better establishments 
it is a rule to require the workmen to report even 
the slightest accidents at once, so that remedies may 
be applied and the cause of danger be removed. The 
men are encouraged to suggest protective devices to 
reduce the number of accidents. 

Shop Committees on Safety and Health. — Once 
66 



Health and Efficiency 



after the state inspectors had approved of the safety- 
devices employed, the company appointed a special 
committee consisting of representatives from each 
department of the factory, and within a year after 
the recommendations of this committee had gone 
into effect it was found that the number of accidents 
in proportion to the number of employees had been 
reduced more than 73 per cent. 

This story from actual experience illustrates the 
principle insisted on throughout this discussion, that 
industry and business can be improved only by taking 
the operatives into confidence, showing respect for 
their judgment and giving them more influence in 
management as rapidly as they show capacity and 
cooperative spirit. In these social relations slavery 
and despotism do not pay. 

One railway company, startled by the appalling 
increase in accidents, in spite of costly devices for 
preventing them, sought the counsel and cooperation 
of the employees in cultivating the '^safety habit." 
Safety committees were formed at convenient points 
along the line and they were ^'recruited from the 
masses rather than from the classes." It was an- 
nounced that every man was expected to consider 
himself an inspector for the Bureau of Safety; that 
if safety required time, that time would be paid for; 
that each one must regard it his personal duty to 
help make the operation safe; '*no man has a right 
to take a chance, for it too often happens that some- 
one else takes the consequences." 

First Aid to Injured or Sick. — In well-managed 

67 



Citizens in Industry 



shops the '*first-aid boxes," containing rolls of ban- 
dages, lint, wrappings, stimulants, etc., are kept in 
convenient places, and the employees are instructed 
in the use of them. When serious accidents fre- 
quently happen an emergency hospital very near the 
works is found indispensable. An automobile am- 
bulance is desirable when the works are at a distance 
from the hospitals. In many hazardous occupa- 
tions, especially railways, hospital accommodations 
are provided, and the expense met partly by the 
company and partly by regular contributions taken 
out of the wages. This method will of course be 
superseded in the future by regular accident-insur- 
ance organization. 

Large corporations in the United States collect 
photographs and models of devices illustrating their 
method of preventing accident and disease. These 
museumsought to be established by the state de- 
partments of labor in each great industrial center.^ 
Only the best recent devices should be exhibited, be- 
cause an antiquated model does harm. It is de- 
sirable to have expert lecturers in charge of these 
exhibits so as to demonstrate their value and uses. 
At times the machines should be kept running to 
show their action and the methods of using the pro- 
tective devices. A museum without lectures and 

^ Museums of Safety are found in Amsterdam, Barcelona, 
Berlin, Brussels, Budapest, Copenhagen, Dresden, Frankfort- 
on-Main, Gratz, Helsingfors, London, Milan, Montreal, Mos- 
cow, Munich, New York, Paris, Stockholm, Vienna, Wurz- 
burg, Zurich. — W. H, Tolman. 

68 



Health and Efficiency 



demonstrators is dead capital, for inanimate objects 
are dumb and they need the interpretation of an 
intelligent human teacher. Many of the devices 
and pictures can be sent from place to place when 
workmen reside in smaller towns, in order to fur- 
nish illustrations of lectures and class studies. 

DISEASE 

The prevention of disease does not attract atten- 
tion so early or so frequently as '^accidental inju- 
ries," because disease is insidious, unseen, not spec- 
tacular, and arises from obscure causes which only 
trained physicians can discern and explain. But 
disease is vastly more important as a cause of indus- 
trial inefficiency than accidents, and most business 
laymen have yet to learn this truth. 

Here we offer some illustrations of the response 
of employers to the demands of modern medical 
science, to show that their eyes are open to the need. 

Cleanliness. — The, microscopic vision of the bac- 
teriologist and the uncompromising tidiness of a 
good housekeeper are required to keep a work-place 
clean; for here esthetic standards and science hap- 
pily agree in their demands. Long before bacteria 
were seen through lenses, women were unconsciously 
at war with them, urged by their esthetic standards. 
It is doubtful whether even a medical inspector would 
be more useful in a tannery or any dirty business 
than a woman who knows how to clean house, if she 
were given power to do her will. 

69 



Citizens in Industry 



1 



The maintenance and protection of bodily integ- 
rity and efficiency depend on observance of the prin- 
ciples of occupational hygiene in the widest sense of 
the word.^ 

The primary condition of success in conservation 
of vitality is to bring the whole system of industry 
under the supervision and control of medical experts 
in shop hygiene. Pioneer examples, far in advance 
of our present social legislation, are found in some 
establishments which are owned by enlightened capi- 
talist managers and corporations whose enterprise 
and foresight deserve all praise. Medical service, 
with physicians, nurses, pharmacy, first-aid appli- 
ances and hospital, has been voluntarily introduced 
with excellent and paying results. Such a service is 
an essential factor in social insurance against acci- 
dent an^d sickness, whether this insurance is intro- 
duced through a benefit association or by legal re- 
quirement. The prompt care of wounds or acute 

^ For the particulars of this vast field of modern medical 
science we refer to : 

R. Abel: Handbuch der praktischen Hygiene. 

Albrecht: Handbuch der Socialen Wohlfahrt. 

W. Ewald: Soziale Medizin. 

C. H. Harbaugh : Causes of Disability. 

C. Harrington: Practical Hygiene. 

Kober and Hanson, and Thompson's works on Occupa- 
tional Hygiene. 

Oliver: Dangerous Trades, and Occupational Diseases. 

Rambousek: Occupational Diseases. 

M. J. Rosenau: Preventive Medicine and Hygiene. 

Weyl, etc. 

70 



Health and Efficiency 



attacks of pain and illness may save life; early 
action multiplies the chances of successful treat- 
ment. 

The medical examination at the time of employ- 
ment, and periodically thereafter, has for its pri- 
mary object protection against communicable dis- 
ease and improvement of energy and vitality. But 
medical inspection may also be utilized in the selec- 
tion and assignment of tasks. The physician's pro- 
fessional advice is an important factor in measuring 
the amount of strain which any particular workman 
can endure. With the socialization of preventive 
medicine and the extension of social insurance to 
sickness and invalidity this medical control will be- 
come a regular and obligatory factor in the assign- 
ment of tasks. It is already so in the best prison 
systems, and individual industrial firms have adopted 
the measure; but it is capable of vastly greater ex- 
tension. 

The psychological laboratory ^ is already in po- 
sition to make the guesses of foreman and superin- 
tendents more reliable and exact. It is true that a 
**boss" of experience and skill can rapidly pick out 
in a crowd the men who seem to be best adapted 
to their particular work. But many gross blunders 

^ Incidentally to his main work Dr. Healy, in his "Indi- 
vidual Delinquent/' has presented methods of studying per- 
sons with the purpose of discovering what they can do best. 
His discussion will be valuable for industrial tests in shops; 
but the measures require well-trained directors to use them 
effectively. 

71 



Citizens in Industry 



are made; time, material and capital are lost; health 
breaks down; and the productive process is hin- 
dered by mistakes which accurate examinations with 
instruments of precision would reduce in number. 

The whole movement to furnish vocational train- 
ing and guidance to youth is an important contri- 
bution in this direction, and one which intelligent 
employers are beginning to appreciate. It is in 
the experimental stage, but already fulfills a great 
part of its promise. It involves medical counsel. 
Indeed the physical inspection and training must 
begin in the schools and the home, and at this point 
our subject runs far out into other fields of investi- 
gation and action. 

Medical Examinations and Treatment of Em- 
ployeeSy Especially for Tuberculosis: An Up-to- 
date Sy,stem in Actual Operation, — The primary 
object of medical examination of employees is to 
discover all cases of tuberculosis and to begin 
proper treatment as early as possible, and not 
merely to reject those who would make the sick 
benefit premiums too high for solvency of a fund. 
No sooner is the physician at work than he discov- 
ers other diseases which require prompt treatment, 
and as he passes through the shops and writes up 
the occupational biography of each employee, his 
trained eye detects conditions which are manifestly 
responsible for disease and must be corrected. Every 
prospective employee is inspected; an annual inspec- 
tion is given to all the workers ; and all those found 
below normal are reexamined during the year* The 

72 



Health and Efficiency 



physical examinations are thorough; the blood, urine 
and sputum being subjected to laboratory tests, if 
need is indicated. The inspections are directed to 
weight, temperature, blood pressure, pulse, general 
appearance, and history. The shop conditions are 
improved by the introduction of an improved ven- 
tilation system, dust-removing apparatus, sanitary 
drinking fountains, wash-basins, toilets and shower 
baths. Not only the shop workers but the office 
people require careful examination and treatment. 
The employees are readily convinced that this 
method is for their own benefit and they submit 
willingly to the examinations. When a person is 
found to have tuberculosis in an active stage, 
he is urged to go to a sanatorium, and the 
expense is met by the benefit or insurance asso- 
ciation to which both company and employees con- 
tribute. 

The advantages of the system include the early 
discovery of disease and more certain cure; the re- 
duction of contagion and therefore of the number 
disabled; the location of the causes or aggravating 
conditions of disease. If the employees felt that the 
arrangements were simply designed to weed out the 
feeble, they would not be cordial toward the system; 
but when they are convinced that the measures are 
necessary for themselves and for the community, 
they accept it as reasonable. 

Not only tuberculosis but heart disease, nephritis 
and diabetes have been discovered, in cases where 
the afflicted employees were ignorant of their dan- 

73 



Citizens in Industry 



ger. Various contagious diseases are revealed and 
the community protected.^ 



VARIOUS HYGIENIC MEASURES IN THE WORK-PLACE 

Among the matters which receive attention with 
firms having modern ideals are: vacuum cleaners, 
where floors must be swept; sanitary spittoons, where 
the deplorable tobacco habits of men make them un- 
happily necessary. Barber shops are under control 
and antiseptic measures are enforced. Waiters in 
the restaurant and dining-room are required to be 
clean and keep their dress in neat condition. Combs 
and brushes must not be used indiscriminately, and 
must be daily cleansed and sterilized. A towel is 
presumably unclean when once used or even exposed 
to the air. Aprons and sleevelets supplied to clerks 
and saleswomen save the dress and help maintain 
freedom from dust and dirt. 

Dust Removal, — What the medical authorities 
and shop engineers require are found already in 

^ Statements of Drs. James A. Britton, Harry E. Mock 
and Theodore B. Sachs (Chicago Tuberculosis Institute). 

Reports of Metropolitan Insurance Company's work for 
employees. Reports of Chicago Tuberculosis Institute, 1912, 
and Bulletin, The Survey, Oct. 21, 191 1, Apr. 20, 1912, June 
I, 1913. Transactions of the Eighth Annual Meeting (1912) 
of the National Association for the Study and Prevention of 
Tuberculosis. 

Transactions of the Fifteenth International Congress of 
Hygiene and Demography (1912). 

Illinois Medical Journal, Feb., 1913. 

74 



Health and Efficiency 



those establishments which lead the march of prog- 
ress. No way has yet been found to remove all 
dust in certain processes. In such situations respi- 
rators are furnished and the exposed men are re- 
quired to use them. Patterns are selected which give 
as little annoyance and distress as possible, so that 
men will not be tempted overmuch to throw them 
aside and take the risk. 

Drinking Water, — ^We may draw upon our stock 
of illustrations for hints as to supply of water. 
When scientific principles are followed, the drink- 
ing water is tested chemically and bacteriologically 
by experts from time to time; either a pure source 
is found or the water is distilled or boiled and 
cooled, or otherwise made safe and palatable; drink- 
ing fountains are so constructed as to avoid com- 
munication of disease; water bottles and their stop- 
pers are carefully sterilized; and no ice comes in 
contact with the drinking water. 

Exercise. — Nothing is more certain than that un- 
broken labor in shops will gradually stiffen or wear 
out the members of the office force. In cities it is 
difficult to find space for outdoor exercise or gym- 
nasium facilities. The constantly shifting and scat- 
tered employees cannot form an association to own 
property, even if they could command the means. 
Under such conditions the intervention of the em- 
ploying firm may be advisable, if not indispensable. 
In response to this demand of a hygienic standard, 
some firms have supplied grounds, buildings, gym- 
nasiums and apparatus for employees. They have 

75 



Citizens in Industry 



even provided for horseback riding, country clubs, 
golf links, gun clubs and hunting, and playgrounds ; 
and they have defended themselves against the 
charge of sentimentality by affirming that it all 
'>ays;' 

Dining-rooms. — Our model employers no longer 
ignore the demand for a decent and clean place to 
eat. Attractive and tidy service enhances the value 
of food. When employees go home for luncheon 
this is not necessary, and luncheon stations for sim- 
ple refreshments are sufficient But where the dis- 
tance from the work-place to the homes is great 
the journey both ways for a tired person is exhaust- 
ing. 

It is pitiful to see men at the noon-hour eating 
their cold food out of a tin pail, with dirty fingers, 
in the very place where they work, the air full of 
dust, perhaps of poison. And it is refreshing to see 
the tired work-people enter a well-ordered dining- 
room, after using the lavatory and clean towel, and 
sit down to a tidy table, with a napkin, to eat food 
which comes fresh from the model kitchen and costs 
no more than if made with pain and toil by the wife 
at home. Certainly the people go back to the bench 
or lathe with better heart and force, with more self- 
respect and with kindlier feeling to all the world. 
The opportunity for relaxation and social inter- 
course is appreciated and valuable, and the food is 
digested and assimilated. 

While the employees are at their noon-day meal, 
the windows of the workrooms may be opened so 

76 



Health and Efficiency 



that fresh air pours through, and the conditions are 
made more favorable for exertion. Experience has 
revealed the importance of many details where food 
is served: a cold-storage plant for preservation of 
materials, inspection and testing of foodstuffs; mod- 
ern machinery in the kitchen for sanitary handling 
of food; incineration of garbage and refuse. There 
are some advantages in very large establishments of 
having not only a service dining-room with its slightly 
higher prices for those who desire its comforts, but 
also a luncheon stand where hot food is served, or 
where the lunch brought from home may be eaten 
with some hot drink, and a special counter for the 
men who prefer celerity to refinement. When the 
firm has a garden the vegetables are more likely to 
be fresh. 

The cost of food is kept low because no profit is 
sought; the materials are purchased in large quan- 
tities at wholesale rates; and the cooking is done 
with minimum expense for fuel and personnel. Some 
reports show that the noon lunch is furnished with- 
out pay in order to increase the working capacity 
of persons who have low wages and are in danger 
of saving on food to the detriment of energy. The 
officers and heads of departments may require sepa- 
rate accommodations. 

Care of Clothing, — In the work-place suitable gar- 
ments must be worn; often coarse and rough. The 
outer clothing comes in contact with dust, oil, rust, 
and becomes torn, untidy and dirty. The undercloth- 
ing is saturated with sweat. It is a hardship and 

77 



Citizens in Industry 



often a danger to health to be obliged to wear this 
clothing through the streets a long distance to the 
home. A man loses self-respect in such a garb and 
the odor is offensive in the crowded and close street 
cars. In shops with high standards every employee 
has a locker In which the street clothing is placed 
during working hours. The locker is in a place pro- 
tected from smoke, dust and grime; it is well venti- 
lated and secure against theft, and is kept scrupu- 
lously clean by factory inspection. The work gar- 
ments should also be frequently washed at the ex- 
pense of the company; this is a necessary factor in 
shop hygiene. 

Toilet-rooms are found on every floor in stand- 
ardized establishments; they are kept clean and in 
decent condition by constant inspection; water is sup- 
plied for the hands, and paper napkins or towels are 
supplied^ to avoid the danger of infection which is 
always present in such places. The toilet-rooms for 
women and girls must be separate from those of 
men and the hall leading to them should be separate, 
to avoid meeting. 

Lighting. — In the standardized work-place the 
architect's skill is taxed to supply the greatest amount 
of natural light. Some establishments boast of hav- 
ing devoted 75 per cent, to 90 per cent, of the wall 
space to windows. Various schemes are mentioned 
for supplying abundant light from the roof which 
is constructed with this purpose in mind. When 
practicable, especially when the operation is delicate 
and taxes the eyes, the benches are at right angles 

78 



Health and Efficiency 



to the windows so that the illumination is at the 
side and the rays do not strike the eye itself directly 
but rather the object. Where artificial light is nec- 
essary the electric lamps are shaded and the rays 
are focused as far as possible on the points where 
light is most needed. 

Distance of the bench from the window must be 
considered, because the degree of illumination rap- 
idly diminishes with each foot traversed by light 
beams. It is often forgotten that while good win- 
dow-glass is transparent the dirt which gathers on 
its surface arrests the rays; regular washing and 
polishing of window-panes is part of the best sys- 
tems. 

Ventilation, — In shops where wood dust is created 
in the process it must be constantly removed because 
it is in the way of the workers, increases the dan- 
ger from fire, lacerates the mucous membrane of the 
nose and throat and irritates the lungs. The dust 
and shavings are removed by suction apparatus with 
openings near the point where the particles of wood 
are broken off by the machine. This operation sets 
up a circulation of air throughout the work-place, be- 
cause for every cubic foot of air removed an equal 
volume must enter. So a double purpose is served. 
In foundries, core-rooms, polishing-rooms, work- 
places where irritating gases and vapors are pro- 
duced or steam arises, a system of exhaust pipes 
purifies the atmosphere, improves the vision and for- 
tifies the health. 

Change of Occupations.--— Tho\xgh.ti\x\ employers 

79 



Citizens in Industry 



have occasionally noticed that a person inclined to 
tuberculosis could be saved if he were taken from 
the shop and given light occupation in a garden or in 
care of horses. It is especially necessary to watch 
over men when they are recovering from a wasting 
disease like typhoid fever. Many a man has lost 
all the benefit of hospital treatment by returning to 
labor before convalescence was complete and the 
tissues were restored by rest, food and sleep. | 

Alcoholism, — In the present state of public igno- 
rance of the real facts about alcohol, while even 
some physicians cling to lax and antiquated notions 
on the subject, the workmen naturally share ancient 
superstitions as to the value of intoxicants. They 
believe that beer will quench thirst, stimulate the 
nerves, strengthen the muscles, enable them to endure 
heat in summer and cold in winter, keep them awake 
in the aa^ytime, and put them to sleep at night. The 
brewers, wine merchants, distillers and dram sellers 
spend vast sums of money in corrupting the judgment 
of men for their mercenary ends, until some of them 
come to believe in their own contradictory theory. 
In this situation the temperance movement must be 
pushed by employers with tact and wisdom, because 
the men are sensitive to dictation on a subject which 
seems to them a purely private affair. 

Indirectly a great deal can be done. The craving 
for alcohol is allayed by recreations which exalt the 
feelings without poison or reaction. Even watching 
rapid ball games enables a man to take part in the 
sport vicariously, so that he shares through sympa- 

80 



Health and Efficiency 



thy the excitement of the participants. When the 
daily work is exhausting this proxy sport may be ad- 
visable. A bountiful and convenient supply of pure 
drinking water, with individual cups to prevent in- 
fection at the lips, will in some measure reduce the 
demand for expensive and depressing beer. Where 
there is a need of nourishment at certain hours, coffee 
and milk stations provide wholesome substitutes for 
the treacherous and deceptive alcoholic beverages. 
The director of welfare work on an important rail- 
way line claims that he reduced the consumption of 
alcohol by selling sugar and chocolate in a variety of 
attractive forms. He believed that if a man would 
eat enough candy to supply heat and force he would 
not yearn for fire-water. Circulars and posters giv- 
ing information as to the effects of alcoholic bev- 
erages can be used with great advantage in and 
near work-places. 

Tuberculosis. — Tuberculosis is not inherited; is 
communicable, curable and preventable ; but the ap- 
propriate measures of prevention must be pushed 
with energy and intelligence in a standard shop. All 
employees are inspected by a physician, and the rec- 
ommendations of the medical staff are carried out, 
either in sanitariums or at home. It is not every 
corporation which can afford by itself to provide a 
sanitarium in the mountains for its sick employees, an 
institution described as one which ^'embodies all mod- 
ern ideas and improvements approved by experts. 
... In arrangement, the wards combine the com- 
forts, the independence and the homelike attractive- 

U 



Citizens in Industry 



ness of the cottage, with the grouping and economies 
of the shack system. The construction is fire- 
proof throughout, and the approach up the moun- 
tain for two m.iles is over a finely macadamized 
road." 

Instruction in Hygiene.— ^verj year a new throng 
of young people and im.m.igrants pours into the great 
mills, factories and m.ercantile houses, with all the 
heedlessness of youth and ignorance. Many of them 
never learned how to take care of their bodies. 
When parents and schools have failed, then em- 
ployers find a duty^, and there are numerous in- 
stances where they have called in medical men 
to lecture on personal hygiene: care of eyes, ears, 
nose, lungs and all organs. It is not enough 
to provide safety devices; the workmen must be 
tauffht how to use them and the reasons for their 
use. 

Shadwell- describes the magnificent installation of 
down-draft tubes connected with forges which carry 
away smoke and leave the atmosphere perfectly 
clear. He tells how the workers looked upon these 
contrivances with disdain. ''We ain't accustomed to 
these 'ere fires." The inertia of habit, custom and 
ignorance must be overcome by tactful and persist- 
ent education. In one place in England he found 
extensive lavatories. A few seconds after the clos- 
ing bell rang, "the floor below was already black 
with the hurrying crowds rushing for the door and 
pulling on their coats as they went. In a moment 

^ Industrial Efficiency, ii, 56. 

82 



Health and Efficiency 



they were gone. In one of the lavatories we found 
a solitary workman washing himself with great rel- 
ish. That was all out of 3,000 or 4,000." He adds: 
**English workmen love to be dirty all the week; 
they seem to take a pride in presenting a ruffianly 
appearance. It is the m_ark of their calling, the hon- 
orable badge of toil, the privilege of the 'horny- 
handed!' '' Men cannot be treated like machines; 
they must be consulted; not even health, comfort 
and decency can be forced on them. The teacher is 
as necessary as the boss; and when fashion is ar- 
rayed against civilization the teacher's task is not 
a sinecure. 

Instruction, — Some topics of lectures, bulletins, 
posters and illustrations, gathered from various 
sources, may be mentioned: general principles of per- 
sonal and public hygiene, digestion, circulation, res- 
piration, narcotics, alcohol, housing conditions, mu- 
nicipal house-cleaning, tuberculosis, venereal dis- 
eases, flies and other insect carriers of germs. 

Rest. — Nothing is gained by too prolonged effort; 
periodical daily, weekly, and yearly rest, and for 
women monthly rest, is a condition of maximum out- 
put. The annual vacation is a necessity for opera- 
tives In the shop and for clerks in offices. The pe- 
riod may be prolonged somewhat for regularity and 
punctuality throughout the year or shortened to re- 
buke defects in these requirements of industry. 
There are firms who find it possible and profitable 
to continue wages during the vacation. Employees 
who have been long in the service and begin to feel 

83 



Citizens in Industry 



the creaking of joints and weight of shoulders are 
occasionally indulged in some extra days of release 
from strain.^ 

Overtime. — The occasions for prolonging the or- 
dinary hours of labor are : the necessity of repairing 
machinery during the night or on Sunday, or of han- 
dling perishable goods in transit. It is generally 
agreed that overtime should be restricted to the ac- 
tually necessary; that it should be paid at higher 
rates, since it costs the laborer relatively greater 
strain and injury; that definite holidays in slack sea- 
sons should compensate for the extra labor. In 
all matters relating to overtime, medical inspections 
would help establish standards on a scientific basis. 
One English firm expressed this conviction as a re- 
sult of shortening the hours of labor: *We believe 
that Increased intelligence and efficiency follow upon 
limiting the hours of labor to eight, because oppor- 
tunities are thus afforded for intellectual and physi- 
cal development and recreation. We believe that 

^"Vacations: Switzerland/' Soziale Praxis, Feb. 27, 1913, 
xxii, 653. In 1910, of 7,900 factories, 949, about J^ (12 per 
cent.), allowed vacations to workers, foremen, etc. Of 
328,000 employees of factories, 26,158, about 1/12 (8 per 
cent.), were allowed vacations. 2,611 of them (10 per cent.) 
were given 3 days or less; 12,255 (47 per cent.) 3 days to 
one week; 2,027 (8 per cent.) i week to 2 weeks; 269 (i 
per cent.) over 2 weeks; for 8,996 (34 per cent), informa- 
tion lacking. Amount of vacation wages, 1910 — 782,857 Frk. 
791 workers (in 38 plants) were given only part wages. 
Ninety-six per cent, of all plants gave full wages, an excep- 
tionally favorable showing 

84 



Health and Efficiency 



the proper employment of such opportunities tends 
to elevate the general tone of life, to improve the 
health, and to cultivate a taste for good society, and 
precludes that excessive fatigue which demands un- 
natural stimulant and vicious pleasures." ^ 

Continuous Process. — In some industries, as smelt- 
ing ores, manufacture of alkali and soda, etc., it is 
not possible to shut down the operation. There is a 
choice between the twelve-hour shift and the eight- 
hour shift, and the latter, with its physical and moral 
advantages, has been introduced without loss in cer- 
tain situations.^ 

Shorter Day. — Fortunately this competition of 
employers in the field of quasi-philanthropy offers the 
world fruits of experimentation which has an almost 
scientific character and value. Naturally there is 
a wide difference of opinion on both sides of the At- 
lantic in regard to the practicability of a shorter day, 
as of eight hours or less. Much depends on the 
technique of the trade and the margin of profit in the 
business.^ It seems to have been proved that the 
hours of labor may, under certain conditions, be 
shortened without diminishing the quantity or qual- 
ity of the product or the rate of wages. But rash 
generalizations from particular industries to all in- 

^ Burroughs, Wellcome and Co., London. 

2 Webb and Cox : The Eight Hours Day, 256 ff. 

^ Webb and Cox : Describes a considerable number of ex- 
periments in Europe. 

F. L McVey: "Social Effects of the Eight-Hour Day." 
American Journal of Sociology, Jan., 1903, viii, 521-530. 

85 



Citizens in Industry 



dustries do not help solve the problem. If increased 
intensity, speed and accuracy can be evoked, there 
may be actual profit in shortening the hours. If it 
can be shown that men break down with long hours, 
a legal way must be found to give rest even with in- 
creased cost; the consumers being required to pay 
the increase. 

Among the considerations which usually deter- 
mine whether the shorter day is practicable is com- 
petition with firms which work a longer time. When 
the product is diminished the loss may be too great 
to permit the change. Either common agreement, 
pressure of trade unions or a general law will re- 
move this obstacle from competition. The individ- 
ual employer's power is limited. 

Fixing the hours of labor is not absolutely within 
the power and range of responsibility of individual 
employers or even of powerful corporations. Com- 
petition, actual or potential, must be considered; 
not only competition within the national territory 
but also between peoples. Only when profitable con- 
duct of a business is consistent with conditions of the 
trade would legal intervention be safe. In some 
circumstances the shortening of hours so increases ef- 
ficiency of labor that the product is larger; but this 
is not always true, and the process of abbreviating 
the day of toil cannot be carried on indefinitely. We 
shall never come to a zero day, and if honest work 
is wholesome the race would suffer from entire ab- 
sence of strain and toil. The whole question is one 
of honest and competent experimentation, and dur- 

86 



Health and Efficiency 



ing the trial outsiders should form judgments with 
extreme caution. 

A committee of stockholders of the United States 
Steel Corporation, which recommended that steps 
be taken to alleviate the trying conditions in its 
mills in this fashion, had this to say: ''We are of the 
opinion that a twelve-hour day of labor, followed 
continuously by any group of men for any consid- 
erable number of years, means a decreasing of the 
efficiency and lessening of the vigor and virility of 
such men. The question should be considered from 
a social as well as a physical point of view. When 
it is remembered that twelve hours a day to the man 
in the mills means approximately thirteen hours 
away from his home and family — not for one day, 
but for all working days — it leaves but scant time 
for self-improvement, for companionship with his 
family, for recreation and leisure. 

''That steps should be taken now that shall have 
for their purpose and end a reasonable and just ar- 
rangement to all concerned of the problem involved 
in this question — that of reducing the long hours of 
labor — we would respectfully recommend to the in- 
telligent and thoughtful consideration of the proper 
officers of the Corporation. At a meeting of the 
Corporation, the finance committee objected because 
of the practical difficulties of putting the eight-hour 
plan in operation. Nobody denies that there are 
difficulties in the way. But the experiment — if such 
it still is — has been tried with success. It is not to 
be forgotten, for instance, that the Commonwealth 

87 



Citizens in Industry 



Steel Company of Granite City, Illinois, divided the 
twenty-four hours of its working day in its open- 
hearth furnaces into three instead of two parts; 
and the Company has fully recouped itself through 
an increased output for the increased item of 
wages. 

^^Abroad, also, it has been proved that, in some oc- 
cupations, added efficiency gained through the short 
hours more than offsets the extra cost. John Hodge 
tells in The Survey of a concern in Britain which 
made the change. The higher paid workmen not 
only voluntarily divided their earnings, based on the 
tonnage of twenty-four hours, by three instead of by 
two, but gave a percentage from their earnings to 
make the wages of gas-producer men and charge 
wheelers the same for eight as for twelve hours. 
The firm gave the tonnage men a bonus on any in- 
creasea-output. The success of the eight-hour shift 
is emphasized by the fact that the bonus has more 
than recouped the men for making up any possible 
loss of wages for the lower paid men. 

*'The United States Bureau of Labor has estimated 
after thoughtful study that changing from twelve 
to eight hours in this continuous industry, even 
though the same wages were paid for the fewer 
hours, would involve an added cost in the production 
of a ton of pig iron of only 2.6 per cent., while the 
cost of producing the principal products of the steel 
and rolling mills would be increased only 6 per cent. 
This estimate considers no increase in efficiency 
contingent upon shorter hours. There seems to be 

§8 



Health and Efficiency 



no well-founded reason why this humane change 
should not be made.'' 

A general statement like the following cannot be 
accepted without caution and consideration of cir- 
cumstances: ''The universal testimony of manufac- 
turing countries tends to prove that the regulation 
of the working day acts favorably upon output. 
Production is not only increased, but improved In 
quality." ^ 

Comfort, — Recreation rooms are provided for 
men, women and young people, with the purpose 
of restoring energy of muscle and brain. In Japan, 
halls in connection with factories provide for all sorts 
of desirable entertainments, including dramatic per- 
formances. 

Rest-rooms for women are hygienically desirable; 
and their use should be permitted without question- 
ing. A woman should be in charge. 

Bathing facilities are sometimes provided by the 
company voluntarily; under advanced legislation 
they are required. A wise and humane employer 
will always be able, with some thought, to do better 
than any law will compel. 

A laundry for women's aprons, janitor's suits, 
towels, linen, etc., is convenient and often economi- 
cal. Aprons and sleevelets may well be supplied 
gratis when the work requires dainty touch and ha- 
bitual tidiness in handHng fine goods or delicate 
wares. 

Alpaca coats for office employees in hot weather 

^ Brandeis : Women in Industry. 

89 



Citizens in Industry 



not only Improve appearances, but conserve energy. 

Elevator service economizes strength which would 
be used up in climbing stairs. Bicycle sheds, with 
compressed air tanks for inflating tires, are some- 
times provided where these useful means of locomo- 
tion are popular. 

Esthetic Surroundings. — Gardens, flowers, trees, 
arbors, walks, minister not only to the esthetic de- 
sires, but have a positive value in relation to health, 
buoyancy of spirits, cheerfulness, contentment in a 
place. 

When a circus comes to town an extra holiday 
may be given without serious financial loss; for clean 
recreation is a hygienic measure. 

The serving of meals is a vital matter from the 
standpoint of health and cultivated manners. Ex- 
cellent models of dining-halls and restaurants reveal 
the taste and character of the directors. Too gen- 
erally the workmen are left to find a place to devour 
their food; under a dusty bridge, on the curbstone by 
the hot paved highway, in the disorder of a scrap- 
iron heap, in the shop itself with its grime and mo- 
notony, sometimes with poison and filth everywhere. 

Sports and Games, — Among the measures actu- 
ally in use in one or many establishments these ex- 
amples may be cited: 

Country C/^^.— Employers and office people find 
that a few hours at golf or other sports in the coun- 
try restore energy, steadiness of nerves and endur- 
ance. It has been found possible by the gift of the 
company or by subsidies to associations of employ- 

90 



Health and Efficiency 



ees to provide playgrounds and restful club-houses 
outside the cities for large numbers of wage-earners. 

Baseball teams of employees are easily organ- 
ized, with match games between different establish- 
ments, to heighten the zest of the sports by emula- 
tion. Tennis tournaments are the climax of long 
practice during the season. 

Baths and change of clothing in suitable dressing- 
rooms provided with lockers form an essential part 
of this program. 

Gymnastic exercises are regarded in some estab- 
lishments as so necessary to maximum working abil- 
ity that they are obligatory on all employees under 
eighteen years of age. Notable improvement in 
strength and endurance is reported as a result of 
systematic, carefully directed gymnastic exercises. 
President Wilson's recommendation of military ex- 
ercises may be seriously considered from the hygienic 
and patriotic points of view. 

A first-class business man, if he does undertake to 
do a thing, likes to have it complete, the best of 
its kind. A gymnasium under these conditions has 
all the mechanical apparatus advised by experts, 
even to the Swedish movement and vibratory ma- 
chines, and competent physical directors to see that 
the exercises are adapted to individual needs. 

The Protection of Girls and Women. — It is well 
known that the finer nervous organization of women, 
the delicacy and tenderness of wife and mother, the 
intuition of moral discernment, the deep racial in- 
stincts which preserve the national vigor, are quali- 

91 



Citizens in Industry 



ties which go with the peculiar constitution of wom- 
en; and these precious qualities cannot be suppressed 
for economic reasons without permanent and irrep- 
arable loss to the character of the nation. In pro- 
tecting girls and women against exploitation and 
coarseness of fiber we are fighting for all humanity 
in ages yet to come. 

Mr. Brandeis, who has devoted splendid legal 
abihty to this great cause, starts with this 
plea : ^ 

"Besides these anatomical and physiological dif- 
ferences, physicians are agreed that women are fun- 
damentally weaker than men in all that makes for 
endurance; in muscular strength, in nervous energy, 
in the powers of persistent attention and applica- 
tion. Overwork, therefore, which strains endurance 
to the utmost, is more disastrous to the health of 
womeA than of men, and entails upon them more 
lasting injury. 

*'The fatigue which follows long hours of labor 
becomes chronic and results in general deterioration 
of health. Often ignored, since it does not result 
in immediate disease, this weakness and anemia un- 
dermine the whole system; it destroys the nervous 
energy most necessary for steady work, and effectu- 
ally predisposes to other illnesses. The long hours 
of standing, which are required in many industries, 
are universally denounced by physicians as the cause 
of pelvic disorders.^ 

^ Brandeis : Women in Industry, p. i8. 
2 Ihid,, p. 28. Goldmark : "Fatigue." 

92 



Health and Efficiency 



**The need of protecting the health of working 
women by limiting their working hours is empha- 
sized by statistics of the relative morbidity of men 
and women. In all countries where such statistics 
have been kept by sickness-insurance societies, the 
morbidity of women has been found to be higher than 
that of men." ^ 

''The morbidity of women, measured by the num- 
ber of days lost through illness, is greater than that 
of men. That is, women suffer from illness of 
longer average duration than men do, and conse- 
quently are more disastrously affected by exhaustion 
from overlong working hours. ^ 

''Women suffering from minor Illnesses continue 
at work more commonly than men. That Is, women 
have fewer illnesses involving complete loss of earn- 
ing capacity, more Illnesses during which they con- 
tinue to remain at some form of work. Hence ex- 
cessive hours of labor are doubly injurious to them, 
because often performed when health is already im- 
paired.^ 

"The evil effect of overwork before, as well as 
after, marriage upon childbirth is marked and disas- 
trous. 

"Accidents to working women occur most fre- 
quently at the close of the day, or after a long pe- 
riod of uninterrupted work. The coincidence of cas- 
ualties and fatigue due to long hours is thus made 
manifest. 

^ Brandeis: The Ten Hour Law for Women (Ill.)> P- 35- 
^ Ibid,, p. 40. ^ Ibid., p. 46. 

93 



Citizens in Industry 



^^The effect of overwork on morals is closely re- 
lated to the injury to health. Laxity of moral fiber 
follows physical debility. Where the working day 
is so long that no time whatever is left for a mini- 
mum of leisure or home life, relief from the strain 
of work is sought in alcoholic stimulants and other 
excesses. 

"The experience of manufacturing countries has 
illustrated the evil effect of overwork upon the gen- 
eral welfare. Deterioration of any large portion 
of the population inevitably lowers the entire com- 
munity physically, mentally, and morally. When the 
health of women has been injured by long hours, not 
only is the working efficiency of the community im- 
paired, but the deterioration is handed down to suc- 
ceeding generations. Infant mortality rises, while 
the children of married working women, who sur- 
vive, are injured by inevitable neglect. The over- 
work of future mothers thus indirectly attacks the 
welfare of the nation. 

"This needed protection to women can be afforded 
only through shortening the hours of labor. A de- 
crease of the intensity of exertion is not , feasible. 
[This statement requires modification, for strain can 
be reduced in several ways in some industries.] 

"Experience shows how the demands of customers 
yield to the requirements of a fixed working day. 
When customers are obliged to place orders suffi- 
ciently in advance to enable them to be filled without 
necessitating overtime work, compliance with this 
habit becomes automatic. 

94 



Flealth and Efficiency 



"The regulation of the working day has acted 
as a stimulus to Improvement in processes of manu- 
facture. Invention of new machinery and perfection 
of old methods have followed the introduction of 
shorter hours. 

*'The establishment of a legal limit to the hours 
of woman's labor does not result in contracting the 
sphere of her work. 

^'History, which has illustrated the deterioration 
due to long hours, bears witness no less clearly to 
the regeneration due to the shorter working day. 
To the individual and to society alike, shorter hours 
have been a benefit wherever introduced. The mar- 
ried and unmarried working woman Is enabled to 
obtain the decencies of life outside of working hours. 
With the improvement in home life, the tone of the 
entire community is raised. Wherever sufficient 
time has elapsed since the establishment of the 
shorter working day, the succeeding generation has 
shown extraordinary improvement in physique and 
morals. 

"Wherever the employment of women has been 
prohibited for more than ten hours in one day, a 
more equal distribution of work throughout the 
year has followed. The supposed need of danger- 
ously long and irregular hours in the seasonal trades 
is shown to be unnecessary. In place of alternat- 
ing periods of intense overwork with periods of idle- 
ness, employers have found it possible to avoid such 
irregularities by foresight and management. 

"The arguments in favor of allowing overtime In 
95 



Citizens m Industry 



seasonal trade or in cases of supposed emergency 
have gradually yielded to the dictates of experience 
which show that uniformity of restriction is essen- 
tial to carrying out the purposes of the act. 

*^In order to establish enforceable restrictions 
upon working hours of women, the law rhust fix a 
maximum working day. Without a fixed limit of 
hours, beyond which employment is prohibited, regu- 
lation is practically nullified. Exemptions of spe- 
cial trades from the restriction of hours not only 
subject the workers in such industries to injurious 
overwork, but go far to destroy the whole intent 
of the law. The difficulties of inspection become in- 
superable. 

**To grant exceptions from the restriction of 
hours to certain industries places a premium upon 
irregularity and the evasion of law. When restric- 
tions are uniform the law operates without favor 
and without injury to individuals. Few employers 
are able to grant their employees a reduction of 
hours, even if they are convinced of its advantages, 
when their competitors are under no such obliga- 
tion. Justice to the employers as well as to the em- 
ployees therefore requires that the law set a fixed 
limit of hours for working women and a limit for 
all alike.'' 

Care of Health of Women Workers.- — The dan- 
ger of fatigue has been studied on a wide scale 
by physiologists and the discoveries of science 
have already influenced legislation ^ and decisions 

iGoldmark: "Fatigue/' 

96 



Health and Efficiency 



of the supreme court supporting laws for shorter 
hours. 

This mass of reports gathered from Europe and 
America reveals growing intelligence of employers 
and their appreciation of the need of paying atten- 
tion, under medical guidance, to the requirements of 
girls and women. The eyes, the brain, the muscu- 
lar system are capable of doing their best work only 
when tissues have had time to rebuild themselves 
after waste by prolonged effort, and alternations of 
rest and activity raise efficiency to the highest point 
at which energy can be maintained. 

This discovery it is which accounts for the Intro- 
duction of rest-rooms adjacent to shops or sales- 
rooms. In large establishments a thoughtful and 
high-minded matron is employed to have oversight 
of these rest-rooms in order to prevent abuse, pre- 
serve order and offer needed counsel. The rooms 
are furnished with comfortable chairs, couches, read- 
ing-matter and sometimes a piano is appreciated. 
The business world has yet to learn the restoring 
and exhilarating power of music.^ 

In the best establishments night work of women 
is unknown, in this conforming to advanced protec- 
tive legislation. By careful observation, with medi- 
cal advice, it is found possible to give girls a brief 
recess in the forenoon and again in the afternoon, 
before fatigue impairs speed and quality, and this 
with economic advantage which may be approxi- 
mately measured. 

^ K. Buecher : Arbeit und Rhythmus. 

97 



Citizens in Industry 



That is a chivalrous and thoughtful act when a 
firm lends overshoes and umbrellas to poor girls 
who might risk pneumonia by going home in a cold 
rain and who either forget or cannot afford to buy 
an umbrella. 

A visiting nurse is part of the equipment of any 
complete system of protection of health. A trained 
woman helps care for the sick and injured, in shops 
and mercantile establishments, under medical direc- 
tion; instructs mothers in the care of their children 
and hygiene of the home; and arranges for the 
needs of convalescents. 

COST AND GAIN OF SAFETY AND HEALTH MEASURES 

It is evident that the cost of introducing and main- 
taining devices for promoting safety, health and 
comfort is a matter for serious consideration. If 
the accounts of an establishment are properly kept 
they will show the absolute amount spent for the 
various forms of betterment, the relative amount as 
compared with other costs of production, and the 
inroads made on net profits and dividends. Such 
accounts should also show, as accurately as possible, 
the net gain from this expenditure, regarded as in- 
vestment in a going concern, as reduction of loss 
of time from disability and sickness, increased out- 
put per man and per machine, reduced cost of each 
article put on the market. Less tangible and cal- 
culable, but just as real is the gain in goodwill and 
contentment, indicated by greater continuity in em- 

98 



HealtK and Efficiency 



ployment, diminution of restlessness and inclination 
to change on slight provocation, and, possibly, more 
consideration and reflection under temptation to 
strike.^ 

The books of a firm may well show the special 
investment for such arrangements as heating and 
ventilation, sanitation, drainage, water supply, light- 
ing, cleanliness, drinking water (filtration, refrigera- 
tion and distribution), lavatories, locker-rooms and 
lockers, emergency rooms and equipment, apparatus 
for removal of dust and fumes, safety appliances 
on dangerous machinery, bicycle sheds, and even 
rest-rooms, reading-rooms, recreation grounds, libra- 
ries, games. 

It certainly *^pays to be good" — in some circum- 
stances. In a well-ventilated and well-lighted tailor 
shop there is less waste of cloth in cutting garments, 
the vision is clearer, the brain is more active, atten- 
tion is more alert; a better class of workers select 
shops where. the conditions and pay are more attrac- 
tive; and where combustible dust and shavings are 
cleaned up the insurance rate is enough lower to 
pay the cost of tidiness. 

We have as yet rather imperfect estimates of 
these expenses, but present-day methods of account- 
ing will not leave us long in the realm of guesswork. 
We may cite a few attempts to analyze this cost 
factor. 

'^See Yale & Towne Mfg. Co.: "Prevention vs. Cure in 
Industrial Operations.'' National Civic Federation, Tenth 
Annual Meeting, 1909, p. 170. 

99 



Citizens in Industry 

In one important establishment the investment 
cost figured up about $ioo per employee. The an- 
nual operating expenses for the same features were 
about $20 per employee. According to the Inter- 
national Harvester Company's Annual Report for 
19 1 2, the amounts expended by the Company dur- 
ing the year for welfare features affecting working 
conditions, comfort, health, and lives of employees 
were: 

Compensation for industrial accidents $135,298.91 

Contribution to Employees' Benefit Association. 68,186.25 

Pensions to aged or disabled employees 31,765.06 

Accident prevention 82,988.48 

Medical, including anti-tuberculosis campaign. . 55,080.22 

Sanitation and ventilation 66,224.16^ 

Education, clubs, matrons, lunch-rooms, etc. . . . 55,891.34 

^ $495,434.42 

The United States Steel Corporation, with 200,- 
000 employees, was expending in 19 12 as follows: 

Relief for men injured (accident insurance) . .$2,000,000.00 

Accident prevention system 750,000.00 

Sanitation, comfort, etc 1,250,000.00 

Pension fund (annual payments) 200,000.00 

Creation of permanent fund (13 years) 500,000.00 

$4,700,000.00 
In all about $5,000,000 annually.^ 

^ Mr. R. C. Boiling, in Annals of American Academy, July, 
1912, 38 ff. 

100 



Flealth and Efficiency 



*'The Germania Insurance Company of New 
York, In 19 lo, had 80 clerks in one ofBce. Previous 
to the proper ventilation thereof, 10 per cent, were 
absent on account of illness all the while. Since 
then, absenteeism has been reduced practically to 
nothing." ^ 

The Manhattan Trust Company of New York by 
proper ventilation increased the efficiency of the 
force so much that they could reduce the number of 
employees 4 per cent. 

Records show that the United States Pension Bu- 
reau, by going into well-ventilated and lighted rooms, 
reduced the days of illness of employees from 18,736 
to 10,114 days a year, even with a much larger 
working force. 

In the printing establishment of Mr. C. J. O'Brien, 
a new ventilation system was introduced by the in- 
sistence of the State Department of Labor, but it 
is willingly retained. * Whereas, formerly, the 
men had left work on busy days in an exhausted 
condition and sickness was common, now the men 
left work on all days in an entirely different con- 
dition and sickness has been very much re- 
duced. The errors in typesetting and the time re- 
quired for making corrections were greatly re- 
duced." 

In a similar way we shall before long have accu- 
rate statements as to the pecuniary profit of hygienic 
measures. 

^ Mr. D. D. Kimball in Bui. of American Museum of 
Safety, June, 1914. 

101 



Citizens In Industry 



One firm^ employing about 3,000 workmen has 
made a statement which indicates their line of rea- 
soning as to net advantages. When the Illinois law 
of compensation was passed in 191 1, the casualty 
companies raised the rate of liability insurance from 
30 cents to $3.35. That awakened attention. 
Something must be done. By introducing medical 
examinations and ^'safety first" regulations and in- 
structions, they secured a rate of 85 cents, a saving 
of $2.50 on a payroll of $290,000 from May i to 
October i. And they noted these results: 

^'Personal interest means closer contact; closer 
contact brings quicker response ; quicker response in- 
sures better care; better care secures more content- 
ment; more contentment produces better work; bet- 
ter work yields more profits. More safety means 
fewer accidents; fewer accidents result In less lost 
time; less lost time brings more steady work; more 
steady work produces increased efficiency; increased 
efficiency causes greater output; greater output yields 
more profits. 

'^Company insurance permits personal settlement; 
personal settlement eliminates friction ; friction elim- 
inated avoids disputes; avoided disputes require no 
arbitration; compensation is easily settled; litigation 
prevented: this means more profits." 

Reports for the first year of the plan showed 
a marked increase of shipments and a decreased 
payroll — due to the selection and protection of em- 
ployees. 

^ Avery Co., Peoria, 111. 

loa 



Health and Efficiency 



ORGANIZATION OF CAPITALIST MANAGERS TO PROMOTE 
SAFETY AND HEALTH 

The National Council for Industrial Safety, — 
The organization of a national organ for the reduc- 
tion of occupational injuries is significant enough 
for special notice in this connection. The follow- 
ing statement was made by the president, Mr. Robert 
W. Campbell :i 

^We have been passing through several distinct 
epochs in our industrial and economic life. These 
might be classed as, first, the feudal or paternalistic 
period; secondly, the individualistic; and lastly, the 
one in which we are now living — the cooperative 
epoch. 

*'A11 forms of social activity to-day are taking a 
trend toward cooperation. In none of these move- 
ments is there more need for cooperation than in the 
movement for the prevention of accident. . . . 

*^To meet these causes what must the industrial 
concern do? It must provide proper working con- 
ditions; it must provide proper and efficient safe- 
guards upon dangerous machines and appliances, and 
secondly, it must educate its men and inculcate in 
them habits of caution. . . . 

**Experience has shown that this can only be ef- 
fected by some comprehensive organization, an or- 
ganization which will include both the employer and 
the men. . . . 

^ Safety Engineering, Oct., 1913, 240 ff, The City Club 
Bulletin, June 15, 19 14. 

103 



Citizens in Industry 



'*A large number of industrial and transportation 
concerns have been engaged for many years past 
in organized effort to reduce accidents. The Inter- 
national Harvester Company, the General Electric 
Company, the Chicago & Northwestern Railway 
Company, the United States Steel Corporation and 
its subsidiary companies, the Middle West Utility 
Company, the Commonwealth Edison Company, 
and a number of large and small industries, many 
of which are well known to all of you, have been 
actively at work for many years. 

**They have approached their work first through 
plant organization. In working that out, they have 
found some five or six essential elements. The 
first is to have a safety engineer or a safety inspector 
who inspects the plants for the dangerous places 
and dangerous conditions and sees to it that they 
are m^e safe. This is usually supplemented by a 
central committee of safety at each plant, com- 
posed, possibly, of the general superintendent or his 
assistant, acting as chairman, the safety inspector, 
acting as secretary, and from three to five other re- 
sponsible superintendents or foremen acting with 
them. This committee has charge of the organized 
effort in that particular plant. The work of this 
committee and of the safety inspector is supple- 
mented by the work of the foremen themselves, who 
in the performance of their daily task are required 
to inspect their plants and at least once a week to 
make written reports upon conditions. These fore- 
men are brought together in monthly meetings, which 

104 



Health and Efficiency 



have been productive of excellent results. The work- 
men themselves are brought into the schenie by the 
formation of workmen's committees, appointed in 
each department From time to time the member- 
ship of these committees is changed so that after a 
while every man in the plant will, at some time or 
other, have served upon the safety committee. These 
men inspect their departments for dangerous con- 
ditions or practices, make recommendations in writ- 
ing, investigate accidents, and make their report as 
to where the cause may be, and what discipline should 
be meted out to the guilty party if it is due to care- 
lessness. 

^^Safety Devices 

**The organization must first take up the task of 
safeguarding. This is generally under the direct 
supervision of the safety inspector. . . . The safety 
inspector is a possibility even in the smaller indus- 
try, for he does not need to give all of his time to 
this work, but may perform other duties if the plant 
is too small to permit of the employment of a man 
specially for that purpose. This safeguarding al- 
ways requires a certain standardization of the re- 
quirements of that particular plant. This is done 
under the direction of the central committee. The 
safety inspector must see to the proper installation 
of the safety devices, their proper use and their 
maintenance. No new piece of machinery in a well- 
organized plant is purchased nowadays without speci- 
fications for safety devices upon it. And the day is 

105 



Citizens in Industry 



coming when the manufacturer of machine tools 
will not permit to go out from his shop a lathe or 
other machine that is not properly and effectively 
safeguarded to eliminate the hazards in connection 
with its use. 

*^But the most important function of this organi- 
zation is that of education. The men are the hard- 
est to reach. Many an old employee has a contempt 
for the new idea and the new-fangled devices, and 
will not use them. The new men do not know about 
them and so educational work is an imperative ne- 
cessity. 

^^Educating the Men 

*'This takes many forms. First comes the adop- 
tion of operating rules with respect to the special 
hazards of that plant. These rules are put in the 
hands ^ all employees, particularly in the hands of 
new men, who are instructed by their foremen and 
by the plant preacher. These are required to read 
the books themselves, and ultimately, in any well- 
organized plant, to pass an examination upon them. 

^'Danger signs are posted about the plant for the 
guidance and instruction of the men. 

*^But you can't get very far until the men are in- 
terested. All sorts of schemes are adopted to ac- 
complish that end. Among these are the giving of 
Safety First buttons of one form or another, with 
the monogram of the company upon them, to all who 
pass a satisfactory examination in safety rules of 
that company. Then there are prizes given to indi- 

io6 



Health and Efficiency 



viduals for meritorious service or for valuable sug- 
gestions, and this [scheme] can be carried out into 
almost all sorts of details. Cash bonuses are put up 
in some organizations which go to foremen of de- 
partments which have been able to keep their acci- 
dent records^ under a certain 'bogey.' Monthly bul- 
letins are issued; companies with several plants is- 
sue monthly bulletins containing items relating to 
safety and safety devices and rules of conduct. Bul- 
letin boards are placed throughout the plant, upon 
which interesting information, instructive and edu- 
cational, is placed for the purpose of educating and 
interesting the men in that way. Then there are 
safety mottoes and slogans placed upon pay en- 
velopes, shop tickets and other stationery that is 
used throughout the plant; sometimes stenciled on 
the doorways or other places where they are likely 
to be seen. Some plants have an illuminated sign at 
their gates. So that by use of the slogan, sign and 
danger sign will the matter of safety be constantly 
kept in the minds of the men themselves. 

''Meetings of foremen are also held. Some plants 
have gone so far as to have dinners at which all of 
their principal foremen are invited, and there safety 
talks are had. Lectures have also been provided, 
and moving pictures are brought to the attention of 
the men in meetings called for that purpose. It does 
not necessarily follow, either, that this moving-pic- 
ture method of interesting the men is not available 
to the small concern, because in many communities 
a number of concerns join together and bring their 

107 



Citizens in Industry 



workmen together at a meeting where pictures of 
this kind and talks on safety are given to them. 

^^Interesting the Children 

**One of the most effective means adopted has been 
that of bringing the matter to the attention of the 
children of the men. One plant I know of has en- 
tered into quite a campaign among the children. In 
conjunction with the street-railway company that 
concern has caused to be shown to all the school chil- 
dren in the city moving-picture reels and stereopticon 
slides. Safety talks are given to them. The echo 
of that has reached the plant time and time again, 
the children at home bringing the subject up with 
their parents. Sometimes dinners are given to the 
clergy and to the principal men in the community to 
get therp all interested. 

*Tossibly the most effective means, however, are 
proper disciplinary measures taken where men have 
been careless and where through the fault of one of 
them a serious accident has occurred. 



^'Widespread Cooperation 

*'The insurance companies have likewise been very 
active, and through their inspectors and through edu- 
cational campaigns have brought the attention of 
their insured to the matter of accident prevention. 
The merit rating system which is going into effect in 
many of the accident-insurance companies is a po- 

io8 



Health and Efficiency 



tent element in bringing the matter of safety work 
to the attention of the insured, for when a man can 
get a lo per cent, or a 20 per cent, reduction in his 
premium rate by safeguarding his plant and estab- 
lishing an organization within it, he is pretty likely 
to do it. 

''The federal and state bureaus of labor have 
become very active in recent years and we find some 
very constructive work going forward in a number 
of the states, particularly in Wisconsin, Pennsylva- 
nia, New York, Ohio, California and Minnesota, 
where some very excellent legislation has been 
adopted. 

^^Striking Results 

• . . ''Wherever an organized accident-preven- 
tion campaign has been carried through intelligently 
there has been a marked decrease in accidents. The 
various industries report from 35 to 75 per cent, in 
reduction of accidents in their plants. . . . 

"Again, it is a work of economy, actual fiscal econ- 
omy. When you have prevented a man from being 
killed or injured, you have saved just that much 
money in compensation, especially in a state like 
Illinois, where we have a compensation law to-day. 
Likewise there is a saving in product. No accident 
occurs without some damage to product and some 
damage to machinery, all of which is an economic 
waste and loss. So if you can cut down your acci- 
dents from 25 to 75 per cent, you are just that much 
ahead in economy of operation. There is also, of 

109 



Citizens in Industry 



course, the social economy, the saving to the com- 
munity, because every time a man is injured, some 
part of the burden falls upon the community as well. 

*'One might also point out the increase in effi- 
ciency that results from preventing accidents. When 
a man is injured in your plant there is of necessity a 
disintegration of your working force for ten, fifteen, 
twenty minutes, possibly the whole day; the force is 
all wrought up over the accident and the men do not 
do as good work as they otherwise would. In some 
indilstries, when a man is killed they lay off for the 
rest of the day. In others they lay off until the 
man is buried. That is not efficiency. Furthermore, 
when an old hand is injured or killed a green hand 
has to be installed in his place. The new man can- 
not perform the work as efficiently as the man whose 
place he takes. Every time you put in a green man 
you slo\Wup the whole process, particularly if it is in 
a plant where each man's work depends a little bit 
upon that of his fellow. 

'*I don't need to mention, I am sure, that it is a 
work of humanity; a life saved or a limb saved is 
surely a humanitarian effort, whatever the motives 
involved. 

'^Recognizing this fact, there was organized some 
six months ago the National Council for Industrial 
Safety. . . . The need was felt for some organiza- 
tion which could stimulate accident-prevention work 
throughout the country and provide a means for 
exchanging ideas between employers themselves, 

no 



Health and Efficiency 



This organization was the gradual outgrowth of the 
effort of a number of men covering a period of sev- 
eral years, particularly within the membership of 
the Association of Iron and Steel and Electrical En- 
gineers, which organization was really the father of 
the coordinated effort that is now being made to-day 
through the National Council. 

''The organization endeavors through its bureau 
of information to supply Its members with safety 
data respecting safeguards, educational methods 
and schemes and organization ideas. It has lists of 
experts, lecturers and speakers, moving-picture reels 
and stereopticon slides, and all sorts of data of that 
kind, available to anyone who wants it; it provides 
a weekly distribution of material calculated to in- 
terest the boss himself as well as the men, and in 
general provides a clearing-house for all sorts of 
safety information. Through its standardization 
committee it has effected standard safeguards for 
general and special hazards. It has sections, which 
are groups of industries whose hazards are particu- 
lar or peculiar unto themselves, such as the tanner- 
ies, foundries, iron and steel, etc., and at its annual 
congresses it provides a means for the safety men of 
the country getting together to spend three or four 
days In discussing safety matters, and listening to 
papers and reports, and entering into discussions 
with respect to them. It is putting forth a publicity 
and educational propaganda throughout the country, 
and from the clippings that we see we believe that 
the doctrine of safety is reaching from one end of 

m 



Citizens In Industry 



the country to the other, not alone through our ef- 
forts, but through the efforts of others as well. 

*'One of the important features, however, of the 
National CounciFs work is its work through local 
councils. In any community where it has five or 
more members those members are privileged to get 
themselves into a local organization, where at 
monthly meetings they may get together and dis- 
cuss the problems that are common to the industries 
of that particular community, and may, if the field 
is not already preempted by a public safety organiza- 
tion, undertake the task of inaugurating a public 
safety campaign." 

The National Association of Manufacturers is 
another powerful organization which has committed 
itself to a policy of prevention of injuries by educa- 
tional lectures and by various publications. 

All this vigorous activity is in contrast with the 
apathy of only too many employers, who must be 
forced by legislation to do their duty. *'The regret- 
table thing to me is, that, barring a few notable ex- 
ceptions, our employers throughout the United 
States did not get busy on this important matter of 
accident prevention and safeguarding until they 
were forced by legislation. What they might have 
done voluntarily years ago, with the applause of the 
masses, they neglected to do until the legislation 
made it necessary, and not often for any humane 
consideration." ^ 

^ M. W. Alexander (General Electric Co., Lynn, Mass.): 
First Cooperative Safety Congress, p, 210, 

112 



Health and Efficiency 



A distinguished authority in preventive medicine 
has commented on these efforts of the more advanced 
employers to promote national health. 

**The insurance companies complain of the toll 
due to unnecessary and preventable disease. In 
former years the medical officers would occasionally 
discuss this economic loss from preventable disease, 
but beyond that stage there was nothing done. Now 
many of the insurance companies are providing some 
form of welfare service for their insured and some 
of them are most efficient agencies for the conserva- 
tion of human efficiency. 

**Insurance companies show a disposition to be 
something more than brokers selling death certifi- 
cates to the few and getting the cost plus brokerage 
fees from the many. The brainiest men in insurance 
clearly see that it is good business policy to work for 
human conservation. 

*'The employers of labor are most active health 
departments at the present time. The above phrase- 
ology was intentionally employed. The brainiest 
and most farseeing employers are doing as much 
for the conservation of the health of their employees 
as is being done in well-developed municipal health 
departments. Their per capita expenditure for 
health is greater than the per capita expenditure of 
the average health department and the effort ex- 
pended goes straighter to the individual who needs it. 

*'The labor unions are doing much. Some, like 
the cigar-makers, are most active health agencies; 
Others lag as much as do certain employers of labor. 

"3 



Citizens in Industry 



**A11 of this means that the organized medical pro- 
fession is no longer the great agency for the promo- 
tion of health work. Theirs was the voice that cried 
out in the wilderness. They were the John the 
Baptists who prepared the way. But the cry now 
is, and from now on will be, from other quarters. 

^'Nothing has so promoted the health activities of 
employers as workingmen's compensation acts. The 
immediate result was ^safety first' work, but the ef- 
fect has spread far beyond. The next step is a 
health insurance act. When this becomes operative 
it will be as much of a stimulus to general health 
conservation as the workingmen's compensation act 
has been to employers' interest in the conservation 
of the health of their employees. All of which 
means that the way to promote the cause is to de- 
velop its economic side, to demonstrate the money 
waste of inefficiency. The effort stimulated neces- 
sarily will take care of the life loss." ^ 

NEW PROBLEMS FOR THE NATION TO FACE 

What will be done with those who are rejected 
by the new and higher industrial standards? What 
will become of those laborers who cannot pass the 
medical examinations, who are unprofitable and un- 
insurable? It is already evident that compensation 
and insurance laws will compel not only employers 
but the nation to face the results, to care for the 
unemployables thrown out by the improved stand- 

1 Dr, W. A. Evans in Chicago Tribune, June 21, 1914. 

114 



Health and Efficiency 



ards and inspections. Charitable funds in some in- 
dustrial cities are already beginning to feel the pres- 
sure from this cause. But public and private char- 
ity, however liberal, will not meet the demand, and 
society cannot carry the burden. The state will be 
driven quickly to adopt a policy of placing the physi- 
cally unfit, cast out by industry, under curative and 
reconstructive treatment, so that many of them can 
find employment under the new competitive condi- 
tions. When the unfitness is found to be due to want 
of training, society will establish trade schools and 
not send these unfortunates to reformatories and 
prisons for their first chance to learn a trade and ac- 
quire skill. These more exacting standards and med- 
ical examinations will rapidly convince men that al- 
coholism, sexual vice, tobacco and drug habits, as 
well as other unhygienic factors, do not pay and 
cannot be tolerated. The hardships of those who 
fail at first will be tragic and heart-rending, but they 
are the severity of surgery and the bitter medicine 
of a wholesome cure. It may seem undemocratic to 
compel men to come under medical control; but al- 
ready society is obliged to support these incompe- 
tents who like freedom but cannot live the life of 
free men. When the preventive policy, along with 
insurance of workers, and segregation of abnormals 
in celibate colonies, has been vigorously carried for- 
ward through three or four generations, the num- 
ber of incompetents will be reduced to narrow limits 
and they will not be a great burden, especially as the 
product of commodities per man and machine will 

"5 



Citizens in Industry 



steadily increase. The program of euthenics and of 
eugenics is coming to be intelligently accepted by an 
increasing multitude of citizens; another century 
will see it well advanced in fulfillment. 



m^ 



CHAPTER III 

ECONOMIC INDUCEMENT TO SECURE EFFICIENCY OF 

LABOR 

Passing from the general survey of the universal 
and permanent reasons for promoting individual 
efficiency in industry, and the measures required to 
promote physical energy, let us now consider 
methods of realizing the purpose through economic 
incentives. And, first of all, we may review some 
of the devices for stimulating attention and effort by 
offer of tangible, direct, obvious and immediate pe- 
cuniary reward for superior efficiency. These de- 
vices are numerous and many of them are in- 
genious.^ 

PROFIT-SHARING 

Many experiments have been made with various 
forms of so-called profit-sharing. In a precise and 
exact sense, the term * 'profit-sharing" should be re- 
stricted to schemes in which a certain percentage of 
the net profits of the year are divided among the 

^ D. A. Schloss: Methods of Industrial Remuneration. 
The Federal Industrial Commission is making a fresh study 
of this problem. 

117 



Citizens in Industry 



operatives engaged during the year, on some definite 
principle — as the total wages earned during the pe- 
riod by each employee. Many economists and em- 
ployers have believed that the distribution of a part 
of the profits among the employees would increase 
the output; that the wage-earners would be more 
contented with wages and conditions, would work 
harder and would identify their interests more 
closely with those of the firm. But this hope has not 
been realized, save under rare and peculiar circum- 
stances. In some cases the speed was already as 
high as could be sustained, and the prospect of an 
uncertain payment at the end of the year was not 
an adequate motive to drive the workers to more in- 
tense endeavors. It was also felt that if the profits 
were augmented by their sacrifice, the laborers 
should have all the increase and not part of it; that 
no gratuity should be accepted on terms which would 
weaken the solidarity of workingmen or their loy- 
alty to the trade union. In general the wage-earn- 
ers felt that the inducement was too remote and 
uncertain; that even if they did their share and 
made their sacrifice the profits might fail because of 
the mismanagement of the firm or from other causes 
beyond their control and without any connection 
with individual zeal and skill. 

On the other hand, many employers refused to 
consider a proposition to divide profits without the 
possibility in bad years of sharing inevitable losses. 
Thus this device has never become widely popular 
with either party, although it has often been tried 

il3 



Economic Inducement to Efficiency 

on a large scale, In all civilized countries and by 
enthusiasts. 

In order to influence the activity of a wage-earner 
the advantage to him of greater speed, tension or 
care must be immediately apparent, must be mani- 
festly connected with his own personal conduct, and 
must not be merely a vague share in the results of 
the improved management of the employers and 
general effort of the whole body of workers. In 
other words, increased income should be paid for 
specific and measurable acts of individual effort and 
efficiency, and not be made to depend on many fac- 
tors over which the workman has no control. Piece- 
wages, bonus or reward for increased output and 
other methods seem better adapted to this end than 
profit-sharing. 

Profit-sharing in itself does not touch the deepest 
demand of the modern worlonan; a share in control 
of the conditions of labor, of wages, of all that 
affects his life. It is not merely a larger share in 
the product but a voice in the direction of the 
process, which will satisfy the man who is taught 
by his political experience the lesson of democracy. 

The experience of success and failure, of vitaHty 
and mortality of profit-sharing schemes is reflected 
in the following data:^ In the last decade 299 
firms introduced profit-sharing; only 133 of these 
retain it. From 1881 to 1900, 168 firms introduced 
the scheme and 121 gave it up. Experiment usually 

^ "Profit-sharing in Great Britain." Soziale Praxis, Feb, 
27, I9I3> xxii; 264. 

"9 



Citizens in Industry 



lasts seven to eight years. In two-thirds of the 
cases the reason adduced for giving it up was that 
expected results did not materialize. Eighty-seven 
of the 133 firms introduced profit-sharing since 
1900. Twenty-nine firms have retained it for 
thirty years or more. To judge from the number 
of Industries represented, profit-sharing seems to be 
most practicable with gas companies (33 firms) ; 
then follow glass companies, potteries, chemical 
plants (14), provision firms, and tobacco firms 
(13), book printing and binding (11) ; others not 
more than one each. Mines and quarries which 
tried the plan in six cases have none now. In Au- 
gust, 19 12, a total of 106,189 employees shared in 
profits, an average for ten years of 55^ per cent, of 
wages. In the British Cooperative Stores we find 
that in 19 10, the last year for which information is 
available, the system was in use in 195 ( 14 per cent.) 
of the leagues of the great commercial companies. 
The Scotch stores have paid out in profit-sharing 
since 1870, £197,000. 

The article here cited declares that profit-sharing 
is usually employed as a means of reducing the 
workmen's freedom of movement. With the in- 
creasing strength of the trade union, therefore, 
profit-sharing is likely to become more and more 
rare. 

The experience in France is similar to that In 
Great Britain. Only 114 profit-sharing firms exist; 
neither employers nor employees show much interest 
in the system. Recently the miners of Epinac-les- 

I2Q 



Economic Inducement to Efficiency 

Mines demanded replacing profit-sharing with a 
corresponding wage increase. 

Further particulars are given in a report of the 
London board of trade, which has issued a report 
on profit-sharing and labor copartnership abroad.^ 

Each of the countries included in the report has 
followed its own line of development, and they ac- 
cordingly present notable divergences. France has 
a far larger number of schemes than any of the 
other countries included, and many are of very long 
standing. The French schemes differ in many re- 
spects from the English schemes. In the United 
Kingdom the class of business in which profit-shar- 
ing and copartnership have chiefly flourished is 
that of gas companies. About half of the gas pro- 
duced in that country is made under profit-sharing 
conditions. French people have only two instances 
of profit-sharing gas companies, but many insurance 
companies and banks, a group that has only one 
profit-sharing representative in the United King- 
dom. Profit-sharing mines and quarries, railways 
and tramways, and metal, engineering and shipbuild- 
ing firms are also represented in France, either ex- 
clusively or much more largely than in the United 
Kingdom, while the clothing trades, food and to- 
bacco trades and chemical trades are more largely 
represented in the United Kingdom. 

In the United Kingdom many schemes provide 
for the payment of the bonus in cash. More re- 
cently the plan of giving the work-people facilities 

^ Cited in an article in The Chicago Evening News, 1914. 
121 



Citizens in Industry 



for the purchase of shares in the undertaking has 
been largely adopted. The typical French system 
is that of capitalizing the bonus. Of the various , 
methods employed the most favored is that of con- 
verting the accumulated bonuses into a patrimoine, 
a capital sum sufficient to provide a pension for the 
employee after his retirement and to leave some- 
thing for his family after his death. 

In Germany profit-sharing has made little prog- 
ress. Of fifty-four schemes recorded by Professor 
Boehmert, an enthusiastic advocate, in 1878, only 
nine remained in existence in 1901. At present only 
about thirty schemes are known to be in existence. 
The twenty-one undertakings for which particulars 
are available employ only 15,000 or 16,000 persons, 
about one-seventh of the number similarly employed 
in the United Kingdom. 

The profit-sharing undertakings in Holland are 
mostly very small, the largest firm practicing the 
system being the Dutch Engine and Railway Ma- 
terial Works, at Amsterdam, which has upward of 
2,000 work-people. 

The only profit-sharing schemes in Italy of which 
particulars have been received are those in force in 
two groups of mines in Sardinia. 

In Switzerland there appear to be only eight or 
ten profit-sharing schemes in existence, and most of 
these are in small undertakings. It is, however, 
interesting to observe that profit-sharing was tried 
in the federal postal service as long ago as 1869. 
It was abandoned in 1873, owing to an anticipated 

122 



Economic Inducement to Efficiency 

diminution of profits, and also owing to the exces- 
sive accounting involved. 

In the United States only about twenty-five or 
thirty firms have been reported as practicing profit- 
sharing and copartnership, and most of these only 
started their schemes within the last ten or twelve 
years. The number of work-people employed in 
the United States under conditions of profit-shar- 
ing and copartnership is relatively large, as many of 
the firms or companies which practice profit-sharing 
are vast corporations employing thousands of 
workers. The most conspicuous example of these 
great profit-sharing undertakings is the United 
States Steel Corporation, which in 19 12 allotted 
more than 60,000 shares to nearly 37,000 of its 
work-people. The United States Rubber Company, 
another profit-sharing undertaking, has about 
25,000 workers; but here the scheme is restricted 
to employees with salaries or wages of $1,350 a 
year and upward. 

The dominant type of profit-sharing in the United 
States is that of issuing shares to employees on spe- 
cially advantageous terms: it is the type adopted 
by the United States Steel Corporation and by most 
of the other very large companies practicing profit- 
sharing. 

The report says that profit-sharing is not re- 
garded with very great favor in the United States, 
either by manufacturers and business men, or by 
economists; the principal reasons being, first, the 
attitude of the trade unions, and secondly, the pref- 

123 



Citizens In Industry 



erence of employers for other means of improving 
the position of their work-people, such as ^ Velfare'* 
institutions (sick, accident and pension funds, ath- 
letic or social clubs, swimming baths, reading-rooms, 
etc.) — movements which have been taken up with 
enthusiasm by many employers in the United States. 

It cannot be truthfully said that the profit-sharing 
plan is universally abandoned. Thus a competent 
authority^ declares: *'A thoroughly effective 
method of remuneration includes both principles, 
the differential incentive, which acts on the individual 
as such, and profit-sharing which acts on him in his 
collective capacity as a member of a body bound 
together by common interests and working for a 
common end. By increasing the efficiency of labor 
they diminish its cost and so increase profits, al- 
though wages rise. I admit that the practical appli- 
cation 6t these principles — and particularly that of 
profit-sharing — presents difficulties; but they are not 
insuperable, if the problem be approached with un- 
derstanding and goodwill." It is entirely possible 
that some future leader may develop a method of 
profit-sharing which will escape the rocks and shoals 
on which previous plans have so often been wrecked. 

Again, Shadwell, in his "Industrial Efficiency," 
volume II, page 145, says: ''If profit-sharing is re- 
garded as an act of paternal, and therefore arbi- 
trary, benevolence, or as a weapon against trade 

^ Shadwell : Industrial Efficiency, ii, 141. 

For further facts see Soziale Praxis, Feb. 27, 1913, xxii, 

654- 

124 



Economic Inducement to Efficiency 

unions, or a means to any other ulterior end, it is 
sure to fail and to excite distrust and hostility. The 
only sound basis is the economic one, which I have 
endeavored to explain. On that basis it becomes 
mutually advantageous, because it gives effect to the 
real relations of employers and employed who are 
actually partners in production. The term *profit- 
sharing' is in itself a great stumbling-block; if 'prod- 
uct-sharing' were used half the difficulty would van- 
ish." 

Mr. Melville E. Ingalls, Chairman, Board of 
Directors, Big Four Railroad, in "A Plea for Profit- 
Sharing," National Civic Federation, Ninth Annual 
Meeting, 1908, said: 

**There is but one thing to my mind that will 
produce harmony in the future and do justice to all 
people, and that is profit-sharing. I believe if every 
railroad in this country were run on that basis we 
would have no strikes. I believe every large manu- 
facturing company ought to be put upon that basis. 
Something should be put aside for the subsistence of 
the employees, something for the pay of capital, 
and then the balance should be divided. Make every 
man your partner. We will then have, just as near 
as it is possible to have on this earth, the good times 
when the laborer shall have his fair share and do 
his fair amount of work." 

Another important industrial manager says: 
"The changes that have taken place in modern in- 
dustry, as contrasted with twenty years ago, give 
the worker far less chance to become economically 

125 



Citizens in Industry 



independent. The chances for rising have lessened 
as specialization has increased. Hence the man who 
goes into any industry which is largely depending 
on labor is entitled to a share of the profits of that 
industry. And where that principle has been ap- 
plied it has not been found to fail. And it has 
never cost ^ anything, but, in addition to paying for 
itself, has produced a dividend for the employer." ^ 

Profit'Sharing Should Follow Welfare fVork.^ — 
That welfare work should be started before the 
inauguration of a profit-sharing scheme is the opin- 
ion embodied in a research report presented to the 
members of the Western Efficiency Society, Chi- 
cago, July 24, 1 9 14. On this point the committee 
says : 

*'This committee believes that a firm contem- 
plating profit-sharing or welfare, or both, would do 
well t(^nstall welfare first. It is the logical prepara- 
tion for the responsibilities of proprietorship. This 
committee has not lost faith in profit-sharing as an 
agency for good, but it believes in welfare as a 
necessary forerunner. It further believes that had 
the concerns now old in the practice of profit-shar- 
ing inaugurated welfare first, their profit-sharing 

^ "Never cost anything" — that is, to the corporation. But 
the question still arises how much the increased strain cost 
the workmen in length of life, in vigor, in leisure, in spir- 
itual opportunity. This is an element in the calculation 
which is too often ignored in the discussion. 

2 Mr. Arthur Williams, 1914. 

2 Cited from the magazine ''loofc/' Aug., 1914. 
126 



Economic Inducement to Efficiency 

plans would have worked out to a smoother conclu- 
sion and would now be more nearly perfect." 

The substance of the committee's report follows: 

In the face of a careful study of practically every 
known profit-sharing scheme in this country, this 
committee is less settled in its belief that profit-shar- 
ing is the most logical and practical relief from in- 
harmonious relations or lack of cooperation. In its 
first report this committee was inclined to advocate 
profit-sharing as an insurance against the unreason- 
able demands of labor; as a method of stimulating 
workmen to greater enthusiasm and effort in ex- 
change for an increased income and a share in the 
business, as well as a means of compelling more 
open and frank dealing between men and manage- 
ment. Granting, still, that profit-sharing may accom- 
plish these things to a degree, so many disadvantages 
to the general plan of copartnership have presented 
themselves that this committee does not feel justi- 
fied in urging it upon employers without certain 
reservations. 

Not all of us, perhaps, have taken notice of the 
fact that profit-sharing has been practiced by many 
of our largest concerns for the past twenty-five years. 
This, alone, would seem to be convincing evidence 
of its worth. 

Without the slightest intention to reflect on the 
undoubted merits of profit-sharing, but rather with 
a desire to get closer to the truth, this committee 
ventures to say that such may or may not be the 
case. It is possible that concerns having put in a 

127 



Citizens in Industry 



method of profit-sharing are continuing it rather 
than disturb a peaceful relationship by taking it out; 
or, it may be that it is the best thing for the organi- 
zation. 

Profit-sharing has accomplished remarkable re- 
sults in some places; in others it has been discon- 
tinued, not all for the same reason, and while it 
would be obviously unfair to judge profit-sharing by 
its failures alone, this committee is actuated by these 
examples to question its general applicability, at 
least until more thought is given to the foundation 
upon which it rests. 

Profit-sharing, when correctly installed, is un- 
questionably a binding influence for good, but the 
chief trouble seems to have been that during the 
period of adjusting it to meet local conditions, preju- 
dices h^ve arisen among the workmen and never 
entirely Keen overcome, even in the face of what ap- 
peared to be an ultimate success. Suspicion has re- 
mained, and suspicion in any degree is the greatest 
,enemy of profit-sharing. It is the opinion of this 
committee that all failures and the disturbances at- 
tendant upon the installation of profit-sharing have 
been directly chargeable to prematurity; and further- 
more that those plans now considered successful in 
every essential detail could have been made immeas- 
urably stronger. 

The committee finds that in proportion to the 
number of concerns able to support profit-sharing, 
comparatively few are doing so. There are not 
over thirty plants in the United States maintaining 

128 



Economic Inducement to Efficiency 

a system of profit-sharing in the strict interpreta- 
tion of the term. While this may be variously attrib- 
uted, this committee favors the belief that welfare, 
while not necessarily taking the place of profit-shar- 
ing, is delaying its day, and that the era of profit- 
sharing is only dawning. A possible dozen firms of 
note have taken employees into partnership, and 
later dissolved, but not without considerable harm 
to the business. 

This committee does not fully agree with the 
statement made by the Employers' Welfare Depart- 
ment of the National Civic Federation, as follows : 
**It is perfectly safe to say that it would be hard 
to find a profit-sharing plan operating successfully 
in this country in the eyes of the employees." 

By this same token this committee believes it 
equally safe to say that it would be hard to find a 
profit-sharing employer who regarded his plan, at 
least, as unsuccessful. The fact of the matter is 
that it has proved extremely difficult to get at what 
we consider the true facts and, without the aid of 
unbiased opinions based on actual knowledge, the 
real situation must remain, in a measure, a matter 
of conjecture. 

The conclusions of the committee at this time 
would be that there are two main reasons why profit- 
sharing is not generally popular among employers, 
and not more universally adopted. They are (i) 
the opposition of the labor unions, which, with or 
without cause, regard it as a substitute for high 
wages and a safeguard against strikes, and (2) the 

129 



Citizens in Industry 



Increasing popularity of the welfare and betterment 
department. 

The chief objection to profit-sharing was found 
to be the inability of the great majority of work- 
men to invest. Others have been the tendency of 
foremen to keep down the wages of the rank and 
file in order that their own dividends may be higher ; 
the purchase of the stock at a low price and the 
sale of it as soon as the price went up, and the like- 
lihood of the gambling instinct being developed 
among investors. 

From its study the committee has deduced two 
main complaints against the annual distribution of 
cash. They are ( i ) the failure to pay market 
wages where such cash distributions are made, and 
(2) the obligation which the men, receiving such 
cash distributions, feel toward the company, plac- 
ing them in a position where they cannot or do not 
feel justified in demanding an increase in salary 
or wages even though they are justly entitled to 
it. 

The general impression seems to prevail among 
both employers and employees that the welfare and 
betterment department is serving most of the pur- 
poses of profit-sharing. From the employer's point 
of view, the advantages of welfare work over profit- 
sharing may be outlined as follows : 

1. It Is more easily installed; 

2. Its results are more quickly felt; 

3. There Is, by comparison, practically no risk 
involved ; 

130 



Economic Inducement to Efficiency 

4. The better class of workmen are, as a rule, 
more easily convinced of Its benefits; 

5. The attitude of the labor unions Is less arbi- 
trary, since the workmen are not bound by any money 
consideration ; 

6. Although the workmen may share in the 
profits, their general health and the conditions 
under which they work may be such as to minimize 
their contribution to that profit, while through the 
activities of the welfare department In the improve- 
ment of working conditions, and the medical depart- 
ment in the betterment of physical health, these same 
workmen might be able to earn as much If not more 
by reason of increased output than they could get 
from dividends. 

The sum of these six advantages Is a healthier 
and more wholesome working force ; a better grade 
of work, and an automatic Increase in wages with- 
out the risk and responsibility of any considerable 
investment. 

On the other hand it has developed, primarily, 
that workmen are more Inclined to depend upon 
their own ability to earn higher wages than they 
are upon the management to deal justly with them at 
the time of the annual distribution. This sentiment 
is due to a few concrete and well-advertised 
examples of dishonesty, which, however, are the 
exceptions, rather than the rule, and an effec- 
tive campaign of agitation on the part of labor 
unions. 

This committee does not subscribe itself to the 
131 



Citizens in Industry 



belief that welfare work is paternalistic. This 
prejudice is being rapidly overcome. 

Employees, unable to invest money in a share of 
stock, would rather see an agency installed by which 
they can profit, than one which eliminates them be- 
cause of financial circumstances over which they may 
have no control. On this point, Mr. R. T. Crane 
is quoted as saying: 

**When a stockholder in the shops is doing an 
honest day's work, he is likely to be criticized as 
setting the pace for the other workmen just be- 
cause he is a stockholder. When strikes have come 
I have been sorely disappointed to find that the 
stockholder employee loses influence with the other 
workmen; he will be suspected of leaning more 
strongly toward his stockholding than toward his 
laboring side." 

Spectacular divisions of profits to wage-earners 
occasionally astonish the world. There are brief 
periods of extraordinary prosperity in particular 
lines of business, due to the possession of a patent, 
or to a lucky combination of circumstances, or mo- 
nopoly, or to some unusual talent of the managers. 
In a few years of real competition these extraor- 
dinary profits sink to a lower level, being divided be- 
tween the consuming public in lower prices and bet- 
ter commodities, and the wage-earners themselves. 
No general progress can be expected to come from 
these rare instances of wage payments far above the 
going rates of the labor market; they have very little 
significance in the general process of evolution, al- 

132 



Economic Inducement to Efficiency 

though they may reveal a generous intention, wholly 
praiseworthy, in the motives of the managers. They 
are not harbingers of a universal Utopia. 

One objection urged against paying a definite per 
cent, of profits is that it divulges the financial con- 
dition of the firm. This may to some extent be 
avoided by a scheme occasionally adopted in which 
the amount of the dividend to labor is not less than 
six, and not more than ten, per cent, of the semi- 
annual dividend paid to the stockholders, or some 
similar scale. With the growing tendency to re- 
quire publicity of accounts, the grounds of this ob- 
jection will be removed, and this will be in the inter- 
est of stockholders, the public and the workmen. 

Annual Distribution of Profits Based on Per- 
centage of Earnings of Each Man. — This method of 
encouraging eflUciency of employees is somewhat 
more direct than the earlier schemes of profit-shar- 
ing. It does correspond in an approximate way with 
the efliciency of the individual, since earnings indi- 
cate the employer's valuation of the services of the 
man for the year. Apparently the effect is whole- 
some; it is a moral bond in the establishment; it 
tends to increase goodwill; it holds out hope; and 
at critical times gives a considerable lump sum which 
may be profitably invested. 

One type is based on the principle of an addition 
to wages equal to the dividends on stock of the 
same amount. Thus if the dividend is 12 per cent., 
a stockholder who owns $500 in shares will receive 
$60 a year and a workman earning $500 will receive 

133 



Citizens in Industry 



the same amount in addition to his wages. This 
evidently tends to identify the interests of capitalists 
and operatives. 

Another type is that of a company which pays 
the workmen a part of the projfits, partly in cash 
when dividends are declared, and partly in stock of 
the company. This plan is said to give every work- 
man a direct interest in improving the earning ca- 
pacity of the company. *^It leads them to discourage 
waste and to check dawdling and generally to in- 
crease the efficiency of their labor." It has been 
asserted that, in one instance at least, the efficiency 
of the workmen has more than compensated for the 
money paid out in bonuses. 

Piece-price. — A familiar device for stimulating 
labor to highest speed is payment by the piece, with 
strict inspection of the product to insure quality. 
This method is so common as to require little com- 
ment; it is evident that a person will put forth his 
best powers if he knows that he is to be paid imme- 
diately for every increment of effort. 

The piece-price wage is not applicable in many 
forms and processes of industry, and, therefore, in 
these situations, some other method of enlisting the 
self-interest of the wofkman must be found. 

The workmen often complain that after they are 
speeded up by the inducement of piece-rates the em- 
ployer cuts down the price per piece and leaves them 
worse off than before, working harder with no in- 
crease of income. To obviate this objection in part 
some firms have adopted the method of paying by 

^34 



Economic Inducement to Efficiency 

the piece as far as practicable, with an assured 
minimum weekly wage and a bonus for extra output. 
There can be no doubt that the piece-price payment 
of wages has many substantial advantages. The 
individual workman is certainly stimulated to put 
forth his utmost energy by the immediate and visible 
reward for his superior service; and hence the out- 
put for each unit of capital, plant and machinery is 
increased; the wages received are larger and the 
payment is in the ratio of efficiency. 

But over against these well-known advantages 
there are serious disadvantages of a system which 
enables employers to speed up the machinery, which 
may already be too rapid for security and health; 
to take the most rapid and strong workman as a 
standard for the average, and give him an unfair 
position; to encourage foremen and superintendents 
to **nibble" at the piece-rate until the actual sum re- 
ceived is finally no larger than it was before the 
speeding process was introduced. The chief objec- 
tion is that payment by the piece urges workmen to 
excessive strain; and some shops where this system 
prevails are scenes of frightful and feverish haste 
ending at night in exhaustion. There is no guaran- 
tee in the system itself that the employee shall not 
be worn out, cast upon the scrap-heap and replaced 
by some vigorous immigrant peasant, fresh from the 
open fields, who in his turn will be used up and 
rejected. 

It is possible to retain the principle of payment 
by the piece, which unquestionably promotes indi- 

135 



Citizens in Industry 



vidual efficiency and larger production, on certain 
conditions. Medical control must give assurance 
by examinations at regular intervals and whenever 
needed, that the employees are not deteriorating 
under the pressure. In the labor contract there must 
be a guaranty that the wages will not be cut down 
by the insidious process notorious under the name 
of '^nibbling.'' Such a contract, however, is not 
likely to become customary without the sanc- 
tion of collective bargaining or minimum-wage 
laws. 

Premium Plan: The Halsey Method, — A certain 
wage is guaranteed and a premium is paid to work- 
men for increased productivity. The advantages 
claimed for this device are that the men are encour- 
aged to produce more by being rewarded in pro- 
portion to what they do; the reward is immediate 
and substantial; the employer does not cut the rate 
arbitrarily and the workman does not fear that his 
wages will be capriciously reduced.^ 

Time and Mode of Paying Wages.— T\\t wage- 
earner lives ever close to the edge of want; his daily 
work calls for his daily bread; he has little credit 
and he has urgent demands; borrowing is at ruinous 
rates of usury, and repayment is difficult. Payments, 
especially for low-paid employees, should be at 
weekly intervals. The employer may be put to a 
slight increase of trouble and expense in order to pay 
the wages frequently and in convenient ways; but 

^ Duncan : The Principles of Industrial Management, pp. 
221-223. 

136 



Economic Inducement to Efficiency 

the advantage to the employee deserves considera- 
tion. 

Payments should, as a rule, be paid in money; 
for the workingman has no bank account and must 
sometimes pay for cashing checks. He may be 
driven to the saloon-keeper for the purpose, and is 
at once in the sphere of a dangerous influence. 
Without knowing it, an employee may be subsidizing 
an agency which undermines industrial efficiency. 

Reward for Fidelity. — Permanence and reliability 
of employees are elements in efficiency and many 
firms have devised methods of offering inducements 
to secure the stability of their trained force. From 
our stock of examples we select a few typical illus- 
trations. 

A substantial premium is paid to each employee at 
the conclusion of a definite period of service. The 
premium starts with a modest sum and rises each 
year afterward up to the twenty-fourth year or some 
similar period, when it continues at a level rate. 
In certain cases the premium varies with the average 
wage rates. In some German cities the same method 
has been introduced to secure stabiHty in the corps 
of municipal servants. The officers of an American 
corporation say that these premiums are '^simply a 
special recognition for good service." They are 
this, without doubt, but they are also an incentive for 
the future and an inducement to continue in their 
employment where frequent changes interrupt the 
service. 

Premiums for Fidelity. — ^A variation on the theme 
137 



Citizens in Industry 



is found where the basis for rate of premium takes 
into account not only the length of service and rate 
of wages, but also zeal and devotion to work, and 
quality of service. In the lowest rank there may 
be no addition to wages, and in the higher classes 
the rate of premium ranges from 2 to 20 per cent. 
An additional premium for good **team work" is 
also occasionally seen. 

In addition to pecuniary reward, it has been 
found that badges of social distinction are some- 
times valued. Thus J. C. VanMarken, Holland, 
offers a gold cross decoration, to be presented at the 
anniversary festival to every employee who has com- 
pleted twenty-five years in the service of the firm. 
Names are inscribed in a Golden Book, which has 
large pages mounted on a winged frame. There 
are situations in America where such an appeal 
would provoke envy and hostility, if not ridicule. 

A certain percentage of the profits may be set 
aside each year for distribution among the employees 
on the basis of their efficiency. The men in the sales 
department are rewarded for increase of sales and 
reduction of selling expenses. The fund is distrib- 
uted in the shops as a reward for increased produc- 
tion or decreased cost, or both. Employees, in any 
branch, who show marked ability are entitled to 
participate. 

A certain v/ell-known corporation sent a social ex- 
pert, who had been in the employ of the federal gov- 
ernment, to go about among their women employees 
and make recommendations. As a woman, she 

138 



Economic Inducement to Efficiency 

could secure information which no officer of the 
company could discover. She recommended that 
night work should be abolished and a minimum wage 
of $8 a week be established. Both recommendations 
were carefully considered and adopted, without 
pressure from legal requirements. 

Purchase of Stock by Employees. — The wage- 
earners may themselves become ''capitalists" on a 
small scale by ownership of stock in the company 
which employs them. Of course they might buy 
stocks in any corporation whose stock is for sale, 
if they chose ; but the difficulty would be to command 
sufficient money at one time to purchase a share, and 
to select with wisdom where the chances of loss are 
so great. Even when employees buy stock of their 
employers they must risk loss. The objection is 
also urged that ownership with the employers weak- 
ens the tie to the trade union and increases depend- 
ence on the master. 

The method of seUing stock on the installment 
plan has been frequently introduced, with varying 
motives and results. On the surface it means that 
the employees are offered an opportunity of shar- 
ing in the prosperity of the company by becoming 
capitalists on easy conditions. They buy a limited 
amount of stock and pay for it out of wages — a form 
of savings and investment. The employees must, of 
course, share the risks of all capitaHsts and may lose 
all they have invested. The motives of the man- 
agers are sometimes questioned, and the trade-union 
leaders declare that it is merely one more device for 

139 



Citizens in Industry 



weakening their organizations. Indeed many man- 
agers have openly recommended this scheme for this 
very reason. 

Promoting Efficiency by Improved Management. 
— -There is a growing conviction among both stu- 
dents and men of administrative experience that the 
managers of industry and of mercantile establish- 
ments can and should increase the social product by 
more exact methods. Mr. F. W. Taylor, a specialist 
in methods of increasing efficiency, has summarized 
his contribution to the subject as follows: ^ 

*^The aim in each establishment should be: (a) 
That each workman should be given, as far as pos- 
sible, the highest grade of work for which his ability 
and physique fit him; (b) that each workman should 
be called upon to turn out the maximum amount of 
work which a first-rate man of his class can do and 
thrive; \q) that each workman, when he works at 
the best pace of a first-class man, should be paid 
from 30 per cent, to 100 per cent., according to the 
nature of the work which he does, beyond the aver- 
age of his class." These improvements can be intro- 
duced by the employers and by them alone ; in such 
matters the employees have no power. 

The object stated is to unite high wages with 
low labor cost— cost, i. e., to the employer; and 
this object is promoted by the application of the fol- 
lowing principles: (a) **A large daily task. Each 
man in the establishment, high or low, should daily 

^ Shop Management (1911) : ^Trinciples of Scientific 
Management.'' Copyright, 191 1, by Frederick W. Taylor. 

140 



Economic Inducement to Efficiency 

have a clearly defined task laid out before him. 
This task should not in the least degree be vague nor 
indefinite, but should be circumscribed carefully and 
completely, and should not be easy to accomplish, 
(b) Standard conditions. Each man's task should 
call for a full day's work, and at the same time the 
workman should be given such standardized condi- 
tions and appliances as will enable him to accom- 
plish his task with certainty, (c) High pay for 
success. He should be sure of large pay when he 
accomplishes his task, (d) Loss in case of failure. 
When he fails, he should be sure that sooner or later 
he will be the loser by it. When an establishment 
has reached an advanced state of organization in 
many cases a fifth element should be added, namely: 
the task should be made so difficult that it can only 
be accomplished by a first-class man." 

Mr. Taylor recommends his plan on the ground 
that it tends to prevent strikes and induces the best 
men to leave the trade unions.^ It is evident that 
this argumeht was not expressly aimed to conciliate 
the American Federation of Labor! 

The whole scheme may be vitiated, from the large 
national standpoint, by its failure to make provision 
for the second- and third-class workmen, for the 
physical integrity of the best men, and for any other 
interest than high wages and low labor cost (to the 
manager). This is not an objection to the method 
within its range of appHcation; it is an indication 
that it is but a fragment of the whole social problem. 

^ Shop Management, pp. 6Sy 69. 
HI 



Citizens in Industry 



Industrial efficiency is only one aspect of human 
efficiency; and while it includes within limits finer 
intellectual and social qualities, the higher ends can 
be achieved only when other provisions are made, 
as by systematic medical inspection and control, 
for maximum health, and for leisure with cul- 
ture. The industrial ideal of civihzation is vastly 
higher than the military and feudal; but, after 
all, as Carlyle said, it is only a ''preliminary 
item." 

Training in Methods.^ — Mr. Emerson, whose 
name is conspicuous in this attempt to increase the 
efficiency of labor, has summarized in his own way 
the main principles of procedure: clearly defined 
ideals, common-sense, competent counsel, discipline, 
the fair deal, reliable records, the best mode of dis- 
patching, the making of standards and schedules, 
standardizing conditions, standardizing operations, 
standard practice instructions, and efficiency reward. 
He insists that all these principles must be combined 
in a closely knit system in which each finds expres- 
sion. He explains the principle of "the fair deal" 
as including a decimal wage rate per hour, which 
varies with local conditions, and is fixed by negotia- 
tion and agreement between the parties. A bonus is 
paid for work which extends beyond the hours per 
day, the normal day being nine hours. A time 
equivalent is determined for every operation, but 
no worker is required to attain this time equivalent; 

^Emerson in Engineering Magazine, June, 1910; Sept., 
1911. 

142 



Economic Inducement to Efficiency 

his wages do not depend on It but on the time he Is 
under orders. These time equivalents are subject to 
revision up and down, as conditions change, but 
never because of high Individual skill. Revision Is 
made by competent disinterested specialists, and 
both parties know all the reasons. 

The principle of reliable, Immediate, adequate and 
permanent records Is thus Interpreted. Records 
should show every operation; the standard quantity 
of material; the efficiency of material used; the 
standard price of material unit; the efficiency of 
price; the standard quantity of time units required; 
the efficiency of time; the standard rate of wages 
for work of the kind; the efficiency of wage rate; 
the standard quantity of time for equipment; the 
efficiency of time use of equipment; the standard 
equipment rate per hour; the efficiency of equipment 
use. The principle of efficiency reward Is analyzed, 
and said to Include : guaranteed hourly rate ; lower 
limit of efficiency which. If not attained, Indicates 
that the worker Is a misfit and requires special train- 
ing or change of occupation; progressive efficiency 
reward; efficiency standard established after care- 
ful time studies have been made; time standard that 
is jo}'ful and exhilarating [mocking laughter from 
workmen!]; variation In standards with different 
machines and conditions; determination for each 
worker of an average efficiency for all jobs over a 
long period. 

It is evident that the application of these princi- 
ples requires a high degree of self-discipline in super- 

143 



Citizens in Industry 



intendents and overseers, and the service of very 
capable directors at every step. 

In the higher degree of specialization which char- 
acterizes the increased productivity of the great in- 
dustry is found the opportunity for readjustment of 
shop direction details. Taylor ^ uses the expression 
^Afunctional foremanship," which means that work 
formerly done by a single gang boss is now sub- 
divided among eight men or groups of men: **(i) 
route clerks, (2) instruction card clerks, (3) cost 
and time clerks, who place and give directions from 
the planning-room, (4) gang bosses, (5) speed 
bosses, (6) inspectors, (7) repair bosses, who show 
the men how to carry out their instructions and see 
that the work is done at the proper speed, (8) the 
shop disciplinarian, who performs this function for 
the entire establishment." 

Under the new system, much of the responsibility 
for direction which belonged to the operative is 
transferred to the office of management. The men 
are selected and trained for their particular tasks on 
a plan accurately mapped out in advance. Nothing 
is left to chance or caprice, and there is continuous 
cooperation between the managers and the work- 
men. 

It is claimed for this system that It raises the 
wages and shortens the hours of the operatives, 
while Increasing the quantity and improving the 
quality of the product. 

The objections of trade-union leaders to **scientific 

^ Shop Management, p. 104. 
144 



Economic Inducement to Efficiency 

management" were thus stated by Mr. John P. Frey 
in the American Federationist} He quotes from 
a representative manager who had said that he had 
^'absolutely no regard for machinery or men"; that 
both were worked to the limit and rejected as soon 
as they were not fit for the highest degree of pro- 
duction. He affirmed that the representatives of 
'^scientific management" recommended it to capital- 
ists as a means of breaking down collective bargain- 
ing by the unions. Furthermore, he claimed that 
the scheme is unscientific because it does not include 
an adequate system for the education of apprentices 
and competent mechanics; nor for the workman's 
progress in knowledge of mechanics. Its tendency 
is toward production of quantity rather than quality. 
It has failed to understand the human factor and 
the spirit of American institutions, for it makes of 
one man a taskmaster without the consent of the 
other. 

Encouragement of Invention. — The improvement 
of industrial and commercial methods depends in 
great measure on the inventiveness and alertness of 
the persons who actually perform the work and con- 
stantly observe the action of machines and methods. 
Since we must count on the inertia of habit and cus- 
tom, a specific motive must be offered to overcome 
the weight of wont and use and to stimulate creative 
activity. Only with exceptional men can we be sure 
that the mind will always be alert to find new ways 
and the will prompt to use them. Furthermore, 

^ Mr. John P. Frey in American Federationist, Mar., 1913. 

H5 



Citizens in Industry 



the operative is more or less conscious that he is 
under orders and expected to obey instructions with- 
out argument. It is easier to follow closely the direc- 
tions of a stupid gang boss, himself slave of routine, 
than to cross him, dispute with him, and risk danger 
of discharge by him. To secure invention the sys- 
tem must offer rewards, provide for impartial con- 
sideration, and be directed by men who themselves 
are eager to make progress. Leisure also is a con- 
dition of escape from routine and slavish imitation. 
A group of workmen who are driven to the limit of 
strength are generally incapable of invention. 

The patent office is a device which has stimulated 
invention, because it protects the inventor of an 
improved machine or process in his property rights 
and enjoyment of royalty. But experience has re- 
vealed defects in the working of patent laws. The 
inventor^ is often more of a poet than a business 
man; he is easily deceived by more astute and some- 
times unscrupulous managers. He cannot utilize his 
patent without capital for construction and adver- 
tisement. Frequently the patent is usieless unless 
connected in a series already covered and which he 
cannot control; he must sell to those who own the 
rights in the previous devices. The most numerous 
inventions are very slight, and the changes cannot 
be covered by a patent. 

To meet these and other related difficulties, many 
employers have sought to obtain suggestions from 
their operatives and clerks. Some have set up boxes 
in the establishment and invited the workers to drop 

146 



Economic Inducement to Efficiency 

into them hints, drawings, and descriptions of pos- 
sible improvements in the process. These sugges- 
tions are carefully studied by competent persons in 
some impartial way, and if they are found to have 
merit, the author is rewarded and honored. 'Traise 
and price" are motives everywhere reliable. The 
shop people are asked for suggestions in regard to 
the construction and placing of machinery or parts 
of machines, the improvement of physical conditions 
of light, heat, moisture and ventilation affecting the 
working energy of the employees, record-keeping, 
printed forms, circulars, processes, designs, finish, 
boxing. The salesmen are invited to offer hints de- 
rived from criticisms of the product by customers, 
suggestions as to advertising and new fields for 
enterprise. 

These arrangements tend to bring the entire corps 
into spiritual relations of confidence and coopera- 
tion, awaken faculties, add to social wealth of ideas 
and production; but their true and full success de- 
pends on absolute good faith and a degree of unsel- 
fishness on the part of the employer. In all these 
schemes no provision is made for securing to the 
inventor in a shop an income from those occasional 
discoveries which are patented and become the 
source of a monopoly gain to the corporation. In- 
stances of robbery could be cited — robbery under 
legal forms, but all the more irritating as causes of 
social revolt. This whole problem of proprietary 
rights in invention is one that public authority must 
solve; justice here is rarely assured by a conflict of 

147 



Citizens in Industry 



individual interests. Selfishness never promoted the 
common welfare nearly so well as public control. 

THRIFT MEASURES ENCOURAGED BY MANAGERS 

I. Savings. — Thrift is an old-fashioned virtue 
which will never become obsolete, but which costs 
sacrifice and needs encouragement. Most wage- 
earners have little experience in investments; the 
failures and scandals of a few savings banks have 
made many persons suspicious and timid; the spend- 
ing impulse and appetites for immediate gratifica- 
tions listen only too readily to plausible excuses for 
extravagance. Great corporations, for example, in- 
surance companies, may be in a position to collect 
and invest the savings of their employees to their 
advantage in rate of interest and ample security. 

When the facihties of savings banks are brought 
close to the workmen there may be little if any rea- 
son for action by the employer. The post-office 
savings bank, with its numerous local branches, may 
be all that is needed. But thrift is a virtue whose 
merit is denied by certain radicals and hard to cul- 
tivate under the best conditions. In America the 
saving habit is rare, feeble, and unpopular. The 
vaunted statistics of deposits, when analyzed and 
studied in the light of budgets, have not much sig- 
nificance. From the top down Americans are notori- 
ously wasteful, and fashionable '^Society" has no 
right to offer advice on this subject, for its wastes 
are colossal. 

148 



Economic Inducement to Efficiency 

In any land, but especially in our country, not only 
facilities but inducements and persuasion are neces- 
sary to promote thrift — assuming that it is a socially 
desirable habit and custom. The 3 per cent, interest 
bait will catch a few who are hungry and alert; and 
occasionally a prosperous firm using credit can afford 
to offer 5 per cent., which is still more alluring. 

Savings in Mercantile Establishments. — The sav- 
ings of shop girls are often so small that they would 
be almost ashamed to offer them for deposit in a 
bank, even if the hours of work were such as made 
it possible; ^^but when the kind little old lady with 
the big brown bag and the little account book arrives 
at the store, the girls do not hesitate to give into her 
keeping even a few pennies." ^ 

Obligatory Savings Banks for Minors, — It is gen- 
erally agreed that with adults the manager cannot 
go beyond inviting and attracting voluntary deposits. 
Something can be said for obligatory measures with 
young persons. The lad of sixteen to twenty has all 
the appetites and wants of an adult, and, in unskilled 
occupations, he may have maximum earning power 
at eighteen. He is not responsible for wife and 
child, and feels only limited obligation to his par- 
ents who may still feed him at their table. It is a 
situation full of peril. The desire for happiness is 
keen; the judgment of consequences is immature; 
the temptations to indulgence are satanic in subtlety; 
not even Hercules' choice may be offered, but only 
one broad and slippery descending way. Under 

^ Mary K. Maule. 

149 



Citizens in Industry 



these conditions many employers have sought to con- 
trol a part of the earnings of minors. A contract is 
made when employment is given by which the man- 
ager requires the adolescents in his works to deposit 
on interest a part of their wages or premiums in 
the savings fund until they marry or have reached 
maturity. 

Consumers^ Associations: Cooperative Stores. — 
These are frequently found in Germany. In some 
places, notably at Krupp's famous village, near 
Essen, the company fosters the enterprise. All kinds 
of commodities desired by the employees are kept 
in stock; sales are for cash; profits are returned to 
buyers at the end of the year in the ratio of pur- 
chases, which are recorded in a book during the year. 
The Cooperative movement is an exotic in the 
United States and has not deep roots. But the 
'*high cost of living" is now keenly and severely felt, 
and recent investigations have shown, even more 
clearly than before, that a serious part of the in- 
creased cost arises in connection with the retail dis- 
tribution of staple commodities. European experi- 
ence points out a way of substantial relief as soon 
as our people develop a cooperative spirit and 
have a taste of its pecuniary advantages. At this 
point, and without any hint of the ^*truck system," 
employers could aid their employees to combine on 
principles thoroughly established by the Rochdale 
Pioneers in England and by the Consumption Socie- 
ties (Konsumvereine) in Germany. The need of 
rigid economy has never been accepted in America 



Economic Inducement to Efficiency 

where there was so much food to waste; but there 
are indications that the era of reckless, childish ex- 
ploitation and prodigality is near its end, and we 
must learn to husband our resources and the means 
of subsistence as older peoples have learned to do.^ 

Loans. — There are circumstances when the cor- 
poration finds it expedient to lend money to tested 
employees to buy homes, the property furnishing 
security after some payments have been made. The 
interest is low. When the loan is made, a life-insur- 
ance policy is taken out to protect the widow and 
children in case of the death of the borrowing 
employee. 

Loans for consumption, in tim^es of sickness and 
other unexpected and extraordinary trouble, are 
often made by employers without other material se- 
curity than the right to deduct repayments by in- 
stallments from wages. Knowledge of the charac- 
ter of the employee may make it reasonable to 
capitalize his honesty, and lend to him at a rate 
which a stranger could not safely grant, and which 
the pawnbroker or *'loan shark" would contemptu- 
ously reject. 

Accident Insurance. — Up to a recent date the 
workmen in hazardous employments had no legal 
protection in case of accident resulting in disability 
or death, except that paid under the employers' lia- 
bility laws. No indemnity whatever could be col- 
lected in the courts unless it could be proved that 
the employer was negligent; a fact which was rare 

^ Fay : Cooperation at Home and Abroad. 

151 



Citizens in Industry 



and difficult to prove. Litigation was costly and ate 
up the indemnity which occasionally was paid, and 
it gave annoyance and loss to employers. 

To bring relief in this situation many employers 
voluntarily continued the wages or part of them, 
during illness ; but this depended on the kindness of 
the employer and payments were irregular and un- 
certain. In case of violent death, when there was 
no legal claim, the employers would contribute along 
with others on a charity basis which was humiliating 
and unreliable. 

An advance step was taken when employing com- 
panies drew up an accident-insurance contract, agreed 
to pay the expenses of administration, guaranteed 
the fund, and deducted the premiums from the 
wages. This was called ^Velfare work"; but stren- 
uous objections were urged against it, the most seri- 
ous being that the men were obliged to pay for a 
risk which belonged to the hazards of the business. 
If a man left the company his insurance ceased, un- 
less he could find employment with another corpora- 
tion which had established a similar scheme. Great 
antagonism was aroused by a clause in some of the 
contracts which required the employee to waive his 
right to sue the employer ; he had no legal claim on a 
fund which his payments had helped to create. 
Some of the contracts omitted this objectionable 
condition. 

After long agitation and discussion the legislatures 
of several states have attempted to make indemnities 
obligatory, on the principle that each trade, in pro- 

152 



Economic Inducement to Efficiency 

portion to its hazard, must pay for the risk and 
charge the cost of premiums of insurance in the 
price of the product as sold. The example of Ger- 
many, France, England and other European coun- 
tries stimulated this movement; and it now seems 
probable that obligatory accident insurance in some 
form will become common in the United States. 



COMPENSATION IS SATISFACTORY 

From virtually every point of view workmen's 
compensation, as it operates in this country, has 
proved satisfactory. This, at least, has been the 
conclusion reached by a commission representing the 
American Federation of Labor and the National 
Civic Federation. Members of the commission vis- 
ited cities in eight of the twenty-three states which 
have adopted compensation laws. They conferred 
with state commissions or accident boards and pur- 
sued correspondence with states that could not be 
reached otherwise. To quote its own words in its 
published report: ''The commission found a grow- 
ing satisfaction with compensation laws among both 
employers and workmen. All suggestion for 
changes related to improvements in the compensa- 
tion law, no one seriously thinking of repealing it or 
going back to the old liability system. Persons at- 
tended the conferences who had originally opposed 
the compensation plan, but who, after experience 
under it, expressed their warm approval of its prin- 
ciples," 



Citizens in Industry 



Here are some of the commission's general con- 
clusions : 

*^The commission found that workmen's compen- 
sation acts, either compulsory or elective, have in a 
large part of the country, become the prevailing 
method of adjusting the financial losses inflicted 
upon workmen by industrial accidents, and that not 
only are more than 5,000,000 workmen now operat- 
ing under compensation laws, but that laws going 
Into effect during the coming year will bring several 
million more workmen under this system. Even 
elective acts have been so generally accepted by em- 
ployers and employees in states where they are in 
force that in those instances a vast majority of in- 
dustrial accidents are covered. In these states that 
have had experience under the law general satis- 
faction's given both to employer and employee, and 
the opinion is generally expressed by those whom 
the commission met that such principles will soon be 
the ruling doctrine throughout the country. 

''The laws have improved the relation existing 
between the employer and the employee; they have 
had a marked effect on accident prevention by calling 
attention to the subject and exciting interest in safe- 
guarding machinery and in the organization of safety 
committees, and they have created a general cam- 
paign for accident prevention. 

''In the states where there are industrial-accident 
boards having power to pass upon settlement agree- 
ments, to make rules and regulations, to require the 
filing of receipts showing the actual payments of 

154 



Economic Inducement to Efficiency 

compensation to the men and having arbitrations and 
hearings before them in cases of dispute, there was 
found no danger from fraud or deception on the 
part either of the employer or the workman. In 
these states the law is being fairly administered and 
employees are receiving promptly their full compen- 
sation under the law. It is evident that the law 
cannot be well administered except through a board 
or officials charged with powers and duties similar 
to those of the existing state boards." 

These compensation laws are received with favor 
by the more farseeing employers who know that 
such a world movement is inevitable. As one of 
them has said: ^We believe that this tendency to 
place the burden where it belongs is a great step in 
industrial betterment, that it will tend to maintain 
peace in industrial pursuits, and eliminate the feel- 
ings of hostility and hatred engendered by the old 
system of the damage suit based on negligence." ^ 

Sickness Insurance.^ — Loss of income is more fre- 

^ Robert Wurst: Article on the "National Metal Trades 
Association," The Annals of the American Academy of 
Political and Social Science, Nov., 1912. 

2 C. R. Henderson : Industrial Insurance in the United 
States (list). Bureau of Labor Reports. 

I. M. Rubinow: Social Insurance. 

Reports of the American Association of Labor Legisla- 
tion, and of the National Civic Federation. 

A striking illustration of the relative importance of sick 
benefits and accident indemnity is found in the report of the 
International Harvester Co., Sept. i, 1908, to May 31, 1913. 
$543,987.50 were paid in cases of 699 deaths, and $14,059.80 



Citizens in Industry 



quently due to illness than to accident, yet the need 
of provision for this emergency has not yet been so 
generally recognized. The trade unions, mutual 
benefit societies and fraternal associations have 
fallen far short of adequacy. Corporations have 
occasionally made provision for sickness indemnity 
through the shop clubs or mutual benefit associations 
organized among the employees and subsidized by 
the employing company. 

When sickness insurance becomes legally compul- 
sory in the United States, as it has already become in 
great European nations, this form of welfare work 
will pass away, although there will always be oppor- 
tunity for supplementary helps by wise and benevo- 
lent employers. Here is a field where pioneers in 
philanthropy may render valuable service to the next 
generation. 

Penstans. — In the absence of a universal, federal, 
obligatory system of social insurance in the United 
States, various strong corporations have undertaken 
to provide old-age and invalidity pensions for their 
employees. The wisdom and permanence of these 
schemes are still in question. Certainly private ar- 
rangements, however beneficial, must in the light of 

for 26 "special benefits" ; 23,739 disability claims were paid : 
sickness, $442,309.73; accident, $114,328.26. Membership 
May 31, 1913, 31,769. Average number o£ employees during 
1912, 42,979. April 30, 1914: 878 deaths, $682,119.17; 29 
special benefits, $14,755-97; 27,327 disability claims paid; 
sickness, $565,589.62; accident, $127,139.27; total, $1,389,- 
604.QQ. Membership, April 30, 1914, 26,297. 

156 



Economic Inducement to Efficiency 

I III I .!■ .11 ■ IIMI > 

the world movement be regarded as transitional.^ 
Without attempting a description of these schemes 
we may call attention to their essential aims and 
principles so far as these have been developed in 
practice. In establishing a particular scheme the 
services of an actuary are indispensable. In the ab- 
sence of legal obligation and uniform regulation the 
scope of experiment and speculation is at this stage 
very wide, and no common principle of interest or 
duty, public or private, has been accepted in Amer- 
ica; while Germany and Great Britain have formu- 
lated their national purpose and embodied it in a 
system on an actuarial basis. 

It is claimed by some critics that the employee 
suffers a loss of wages in accepting a pension scheme, 
but gains no contractual right in the fund. This 
criticism requires examination. In those schemes in 
which the employee pays no premium, the corpora- 
tion providing the entire fund, the former does not 
suffer a loss of wages. In certain schemes where 
the employee is a contributor he is repaid with inter- 
est all he has paid or the greater part thereof in 
case he leaves the position for any cause; and in 
this situation he suffers no deduction from his wages. 
In the schemes where the employee is compelled to 
pay part of the premium and does not acquire any 

^ C. R. Henderson : Industrial Insurance in the United 
States, and literature there cited. Bureau of Labor Report. 

Seager: Social Insurance. 

I. Rubinow : American Economic Review, June, 1913, pp. 
287-295. 



Citizens in Industry 



contractual claim on the fund which he has helped 
to create there is manifest injustice which demands 
legal correction.^ 

A satisfactory system must not lower wages, and 
must guarantee to each employee all to which he 
is in equity entitled. The fund should be based on 
actuarial calculations, should be independent of the 
financial fortunes of the company and should be 
adequate each year for the claims of the year. If 
the employee dies or leaves the service before the 
age when he is entitled to full pension, his just expec- 
tations should be met by such partial payments as 
may be reasonable; and all the provisions should be 
known and published from the beginning. 

'^Benefit Funds. — W. L. Chandler: "The Use of Benefit 
Funds Among Factory Employees." The Dodge Idea, Mar., 
1913, p. %oyo. 

Statistics "compiled from over five hundred benefit funds 
in the United States and a few in Canada.'' 

Thirty per cent, of funds receive regular contributions 
from the establishments, "but this seemingly has only the 
effect of lowering the cost to members, as no reasons are 
apparent why they cannot all be self-sustaining.'' Member- 
ship of all funds averaged 48 per cent, of total number of 
employees. Ninety-three per cent, of funds provide benefits 
for temporary disability due to sickness. Of all funds (com- 
prising about 350,000 members) the average cost per mem- 
ber for one year for temporary disability due to sickness 
and accidents combined (sickness and accident cases not 
reported separately) was $3.42. Ninety per cent, of funds 
pay benefits for temporary disability due to accidents. 
Twelve per cent, of all funds pay benefits for permanent 
disability, and one-third of these apply the benefits to cases 

158 



Economic Inducement to Efficiency 

But at least during this transition from private to 
public systems we cannot ignore the value of the 
principle *'that an employee who has given faithful 
and long service to his employers, has given a kind 
of service for which he has not been fully compen- 



due to sickness as well as accidents. Of the funds paying 
benefits for permanent disability % per cent, of members 
received such benefits in one year. Average cost per mem- 
ber covering both sickness and accident for the year was 
48 cents. 

Twelve per cent, of funds give benefits for permanent 
disability due to accident. Eighty-three per cent, of funds 
provide benefit for death of a member, due to sickness. 
Amount varies from $10 to $1,000. Average, $209.76. 
Ninety per cent, of funds provide benefit for death of a 
member due to accident. Twenty-two per cent, have bene- 
fits for death of members' wives. Ten per cent, have bene- 
fits for death of other dependents. Very few funds make 
any distinction between salaried employees and day work- 
ers. All funds provide different classes of membership based 
on sex. Of total membership of all funds, 10 per cent, are 
females. Of members of funds reporting female members, 
II per cent, are females. Of funds managed by employees 
only 30 per cent, of employees were members. Of those 
managed by establishment, 75 per cent, were enrolled. Of 
those managed jointly, 66 per cent, were enrolled. Fifteen 
per cent, had more or less compulsory membership. 

W. L. Chandler: Views and Questions in Benefit Fund 
Discussion. The Dodge Idea, June, 1913, p. 1154. Eighty 
per cent, of funds managed by employees have entrance 
fees. Forty per cent, of funds under joint: management have 
entrance fees. One under establishment rule has entrance 
fee. Fees range from 5 cents to $10.00; $1.00 the most 
common, 50 cents next. Two-thirds have assessments. 

159 



Citizens in Industry 



sated in his weekly or his monthly pay envelope." ^ 
Why should not pay for this unpaid service be added 
to the regular wages? It cannot be added there for 
the simple reason that you cannot know whether a 
man renders ''long and faithfuP' service until he has 
done it. All know that ''long and faithful'' service 
is worth more than brief, uncertain and disloyal 
service; but the pay of the extra value ought not 
to be given until the time is past and the test 
endured. 

It may be objected to this reasoning that invalid 
and old-age pensions should be required by law of 
all employers and not be dependent on a workman's 
continuance all his life with the same employer. 
Granting this as sound, we yet hold to the "service 
annuity" idea expressed above; something should be 
volunta\rily added to the legal pension, since it is 
earned in a special and personal relation. Here is 
another example where, even under compulsory old- 
age pension laws, there will be room for voluntary 
and special acts of equity and philanthropy. 

But if, as men approach the age when the pen- 
sion is expected, they are discharged for weakness, 
or on some other pretext, the whole system will be 
defeated; for its value as an incentive to fidelity and 
loyalty depends on the general belief in the sincerity 
of the managers. Doubt might be set at rest in 
part by guaranteeing at least an equitable pension 
after a certain long period of service, even if weak- 

^ Mr. Arthur Williams in Bui. 6, National Association of 
Corporation Schools. 

1 60 



Economic Inducement to Efficiency 

ness or unfaithfulness made It necessary to discharge 
the person at the stage where strength begins to 
fail. The complaints on this subject are so numer- 
ous and well founded that they cannot be ignored. 
Perhaps the evil cannot be corrected without legis- 
lation. 

In Germany, where social insurance is obligatory 
(compulsory), it would seem that no further provi- 
sion need be made by employers for disasters to 
workmen and their families. But an imperial or 
federal law must be based on averages and cannot 
take into account individual and special require- 
ments. The proprietor, having direct relations with 
a group of workers whose local and even domestic 
condition is known to him, can always find some 
local defect in the working of a general law which 
he can correct. It may be the pension is too small 
for certain large families, or homes where there has 
been prolonged sickness with heavy expenses; or 
mechanical appliances recommended by the physi- 
cian may be too costly for the family means, as 
trusses or spectacles ; or a period in the mountain or 
by the sea may be desirable for convalescents; or a 
faithful employee may become disabled before the 
age when pension begins; or a widow and her chil- 
dren may not have claim oh a pension for a similar 
reason. In these and similar situations room is left 
for personal generosity beyond the bare letter of 
the law. Doubtless when obligatory insurance is 
general in the United States there will still be many 
opportunities to manifest a human Interest, 

i6i 



Citizens in Industry 



Concerning old-age annuities Louis Brandeis sug- 
gests another aspect of an argument: '*Economic- 
ally, the superannuation provision may be consid- 
ered as a depreciation charge. Every prudent manu- 
faicturer makes an annual charge for the deprecia- 
tion of his machines, recognizing not merely phys- 
ical depreciation, but lessened value through obsoles- 
cence. He looks forward to the time when the 
machine, though still in existence, and in perfect re- 
pair, will be unprofitable, and hence must be aban- 
doned. This annual charge for depreciation he 
treats as a necessary expense of the business." Old 
age and invalidity must ever be regarded as neces- 
sary elements in the upkeep of the human instru- 
ments of production. 

Life Insurance {death benefits). — One device is 
worth recording: the employing corporation makes a 
contract with a reputable life-insurance company; 
asks the employees to authorize the deduction from 
the wages at each payment sufficient to cover the 
premium; and thus the policy is kept alive. The 
insurance is quite independent of any reverses of 
the employers. 

Fines, — It is generally believed by employers and 
accepted by employees, at least in many branches of 
manufacture and trade, that disciplinary measures 
are necessary. Under the ancient apprenticeship 
system the young workman could be punished with 
the rod; that is no longer possible, unless the father 
chooses to resort to this method at home to cure a 
lazy son. The fine is the only disciplinary measure 

162 



Economic Inducement to Efficiency 

available, and, as It touches the income, it is keenly 
and quickly felt. 

At the same time, if fines are paid to the employer 
he has a manifest and direct interest In making them 
as high as possible; and even if he Is Impartial he is 
sure to be suspected. If the fine Is levied and col- 
lected promptly, a careful record kept, and the 
amounts received are put into a fund for sickness 
and accident Insurance, the benefits of which all em- 
ployees share, the sense of justice is not offended, 
the employer is not hated or suspected, and the 
desirable disciplinary effect is fully secured without 
waste of friction and ill-will. 

Security of Position; Rights of Employees in the 
Business. — For many years wage-earners have 
groped for some expression of their feeling that men. 
who have spent years In learning a trade and in 
serving a certain firm or corporation acquire some 
sort of a claim to security of tenure. In public em- 
ployment this principle is openly avowed; the 
^'spoils system'' with Its arbitrary methods of select- 
ing and discharging employees has gradually suc- 
cumbed to the '^merlt system" which selects, retains 
and promotes public servants on examination, proba- 
tion and continued evidence of eflScIency in the posi- 
tions. It was natural that the same principle should 
be applied to the service of private parties, espe- 
cially of corporations created by charter of the 
commonwealth — hence the frequently recurring 
phrase, **a man's right to his job," and the intense 
hatred of the *'scab" and the * 'strike-breaker." Gen- 

163 



citizens in Industry 



erally employers, still under the influence of the in- 
dividualistic theory of liberalism and laissez-faire 
policies, have resolutely and vigorously fought this 
idea and contended that they had the absolute right 
to discharge without notice and without giving any 
explanation, just as employees may quit the employ- 
ers. It must be confessed that if the right of wage- 
earners to their job is recognized there must be a 
corresponding recognition of duties, and men gen- 
erally see their rights before they discover their 
duties. 

At any rate, many capitalist managers have been 
turning over the subject in their minds, have them- 
selves felt the hardships of insecure tenure of places, 
the wastes of anxiety, the perils of suspense and the 
atmosphere of suspicion, and have themselves 
groped for a remedy. The various pension schemes 
are subsWntial, if only partial, evidence of this feel- 
ing. The sale of stock shares to employees on 
favorable terms is another sign. The system of 
unemployment insurance, already in operation in 
Great Britain, v/ill be one of the methods of giving 
to this new claim legal force and precise definition. 

The Honorable Seth Low, distinguished repre- 
sentative of the best political and commercial ten- 
dencies, has given this almost instinctive feeling an 
articulate expression in prophetic words : 

**There has grown up very widely among em- 
ployees the feeling that the men who put labor into 
a railroad system, or into any other vast industrial 
plant, help to create that system just as truly as the 

164 



Economic Inducement to Efficiency 

men who put their money into it; and out of this 
belief there has grown and is growing a constantly 
strengthening conviction that those who work for 
such an enterprise acquire a property right In it just 
as real as the property right of those who embark 
capital In it. The problem of modern industry, so 
far as it relates to the relation of the employer and 
employee, seems to be to discover the just, and 
equitable, and practical way of reconciling these two 
claims to property right in modern industry. As 
long as business enterprises were under Individual 
management, It vv^as not unnatural for a man, whose 
energy built up the enterprise and whose entire for- 
tune had been at risk in developing It, to feel that 
It was his business. Neither was this claim seriously 
disputed by labor under old conditions. But the 
situation, evidently. Is entirely changed when an 
enterprise Is financed by tens of thousands of stock- 
holders who give no time or thought whatever to 
its conduct, and when its affairs are administered not 
by the people who finance It, but by salaried 
officials." 1 

It Is perfectly clear that an absolute denial of any 
claim to permanency of employment on the part of 
employers will increase the momentum of Socialism, 
because the workmen can see that under Socialism 
their tenure of oflfice would be as secure as that of 
government officials is now under a good merit 

^ Annals of American Academy, Nov., 1912, 100 ff. Cf. 
article by Prof. A. W. Small, American Journal of Sociol- 
ogy, May, 1 914, xix, 721 ff. 

16s 



Citizens in Industry 



system. Perhaps they do not so easily appreciate 
the fact that any system which guarantees security 
of employment must involve a severity and rigor of 
social control of individual action now unknown; 
there is always a conflict between personal liberty 
and comfort or ease. The extent of that disad- 
vantage is subject to the speculations of prophecy 
and cannot be scientifically calculated from any data 
yet available. Meantime the most sagacious man- 
agers will discover by experiment practical methods 
of diminishing the terrors of insecurity, of making 
men feel that only for imperative reasons need the 
workmen fear discharge. This experimentation will 
lead ultimately to a great system of cooperation be- 
tween employers, on a national scale, and through 
federal organization, to diminish these heartbreak- 
ing and demoralizing periods of unemployment, and 
when this rs impossible to provide unbroken income 
until employment can be furnished. 

Private pension plans, however generously con- 
ceived, have disadvantages. They are created only 
in a few cases, and there is no legal assurance of 
their extension. Usually the entire cost is borne 
by the employers and this gives them the right to 
fix the terms of enjoyment. Whatever may be the 
intention, the necessary practical effect is subordina- 
tion, even subjection, of the employee to the cor- 
poration. One conspicuous instance is reported: 
*'In order to enjoy its benefits, the men must have 
served twenty years continuously in the employ of 
the corporation or of one of its subsidiaries. This 

i66 



Economic Inducement to Efficiency 

effectively prevents any stoppage of work as a pro- 
test against anything considered unjust by the work- 
men, if they would keep their record such as to 
enable them to draw the pension in their old age. 
There is nothing in it to protect a man excepting his 
subservience to his superior officers, and the nearer 
he approaches toward twenty years of continuous 
service, the greater his subservience may conceivably 
be, for he might be discharged at the end of nineteen 
years and eleven months and his right to the pension 
would be forfeited." ^ 

In some so-called ^^profit-sharing" schemes the 
bonus on stock is not received as a right but is paid 
only to those whom the executive officials of the 
company consider loyal. 

In the German system the pension does not de- 
pend upon private favors but upon a well-defined 
legal right, a right which may be transferred from 
one place of employment to another. Under a mo- 
narchical form of government free and independent 
citizenship is in this matter better protected than in 
this 'land of the free." 

1 John A. Fitch: Article in Annals of American Acad- 
emy, July, 1 9 12, 10 ff. 



CHAPTER IV 

METHODS OF IMPROVING THE CONDITIONS OF HOME 
LIFE OF EMPLOYEES 

Family and Home of Employees. — **A man's 
house is his castle" is a proverb which expresses the 
ethical and legal independence of a citizen's home. 
It would seem that any hint of interference with 
domestic affairs would array against the most benev- 
olent employer the hostility of those who are af- 
fected. Generally this would be true, and the em- 
ployers have felt that they had no right to invade 
this santtuary for any purpose. In large cities 
where the work-people are scattered in all directions 
and may come from any quarter the employers can 
have little influence on the domestic conditions of 
their employees. 

But there are situations where the company prac- 
tically controls the dwellings of the workers, and 
here they have a duty and cannot evade a respon- 
sibility. Frequently a great firm will buy a large 
tract of land on which to establish a manufacturing 
establishment, yet there will be no accessible houses 
for the families. To leave the construction and 
arrangement of homes, streets, parks and public 
spaces to the unorganized throng of strangers would 

i68 



Improving the Home Life 

be to invite disaster. The possession of power, 
resources and talent involves a corresponding obliga- 
tion. There is also a definite personal and pecuniary 
interest at stake on the part of the managers, direc- 
tors and stockholders, for the health, morality, con- 
tentment and good-feeling of the people are an 
asset of appreciable importance. 

The impulse of humanity, the pride of the master, 
the incentive of security for property and gain, blend 
in the amalgam motive that inspires the charming 
industrial towns which have been created by strong 
captains of industry both in Europe and America. 

Should the dwellings be rented or owned by the 
workingmen? On this question there is dispute 
both in Europe and America. The problem varies 
with the situation and with the group. 

When there is probability of permanent employ- 
ment there are great advantages in encouraging 
ownership. The habit of thrift is stimulated by the 
hope of securing a home. Men are more likely to 
be sober, steady, industrious and faithful if they own 
visible property. 

Unfortunately multitudes of wage-earners have 
no assurance of permanent employment, and if they 
buy a dwelling and place a mortgage on it to cover 
the debt incurred by purchase they may lose all. If 
they move away the property must sometimes be put 
on the market at forced sale and disposed of at a 
sacrifice. If the owners do not occupy the house it 
may be ruined by careless tenants. Furthermore, a 
man who owns his house has given a hostage to his 

169 



Citizens in Industry 



employer and is not so independent in the assertion 
of his claims in case of strikes. 

From the standpoint of the employing corpora- 
tion, objections to individual ownership are raised. 
It may be impossible to plan the area of building 
so as to secure proper recreation grounds, play 
spaces, public baths and laundries, gardens and cor- 
rect style of architecture. Each owner will follow 
his own taste and be governed by the amount he 
can invest, and the result is ugliness, disorder, incon- 
venience and insanitary arrangements. The work- 
man who is trying to pay off the debt on his house 
by installments is sorely tempted to crowd his best 
rooms with lodgers, a constant menace to the health 
and morals of the family. 

The Dwelling a Primary Necessity of Life,'^- — ' 
Next to food the primary necessity of life is the 
dwelling. Those who are seeking the conditions of 
highest efficiency in the shop will find some of the 
most important of them in the home. If the money- 
maker has an ambition to be a good citizen he will 
give as serious attention to the habitations of his 
employees as to the roof of his mill. The capitalist 
manager has intelligence and influence, and he is 
under obligation to use his power as a citizen for 
the benefit of those who make his capital productive. 
If a corporation discovers that its employees are 
living in houses which are condemned by the stand- 
ards of physiology, by the esthetic standards of re- 

^ See Mrs. Albion Fellows Bacon : What Bad Housing 
Means to a Community, and Beauty for Ashes. 

170 



Improving the Home Life 

fined people, and by the moral standard of the 
decent, it should secure legislation and administra- 
tion which will correct abuses and compel landlords 
to conform to the requirements of modern science. 
There would be less need of ^'professional reform- 
ers" and less need of abusing them for impertinent 
interference, if those who control property had a 
more enlightened conscience in regard to their civic 
responsibilities. In some cases the companies own 
the houses in which their miners or other laborers 
are compelled to reside ; and then their responsibility 
is all the more direct. 

If any unscrupulous owner of uninhabitable 
houses wishes to sleep of nights he is hereby faith- 
fully warned to place on his expurgated list of books 
**The Peril and the Preservation of the Home," by 
Jacob Riis, humorist, reformer, optimist, saint, of 
blessed memory. It was he who thought the chief 
interest in a habitation is the kind of character it 
produces. '*A pigsty, in time, will make a pig even 
of man who is made in the image of God. You 
can degrade him to that level, if you try hard enough 
and are willing to pay the price." He will tell us 
what to think of men who send agents to collect 
40 per cent, profits from hovels and spend the money 
on European travel, costly pictures, and endless 
luxuries. 

Correction of these housing evils is a matter of 
conscience and will. 

Benefits of Improved Housing, — The experience 
of Liverpool, England, is a striking proof of the 

171 



Citizens in Industry 



spiritual value of improving the outward conditions 
of domestic life. During the earlier years of the 
last century, under a social philosophy of negligence, 
that city, which was growing in wealth and fame, 
permitted its dock laborers to inhabit dwellings 
which were repulsive to sight, dangerous to health, 
destructive of morals. Landlords reaped fortunes 
while humanity decayed, and only the most vigorous 
agitation aroused the authorities to action. The 
owners and employers would do nothing of their 
own motion, and the municipality was compelled to 
take possession of a large district. It built decent 
little cottages in rows, with play spaces between, 
and transferred the inhabitants of the deadly shacks 
to more decent quarters. In 1864 there were 
22,000 insanitary dwelHngs in the city. After the 
new policy was carried out for some time the death 
rate declined from 50 to 27 per 1,000; deaths from 
tuberculosis from 4 to 1.9 ; typhus fever, once preva- 
lent, disappeared entirely; typhoid fever from 1,300 
cases in 1896 to 200 cases in 191 1. The pohce 
prosecutions fell 50 per cent.^ 

A Suburban Plan, — In 19 10 the Liverpool Suburb 
Tenants, Limited, was organized. It leased 180 
acres on the Marquis of Salisbury estate for 999 
years. One acre in every ten was reserved for 
open spaces; eleven houses were built per acre; 
1,800 houses for 7,000 persons. The streets, thirty- 
six to eighty feet wide, were lined with trees. Lawns 
for tennis players, and bowling greens, children's 

^ The American City, Apr., 1913, pp. 429-430. 
172 



Improving the Home Life 

playground with swings and other apparatus were 
included in the plan. 

Conditions of Successful Plans, — Certain condi- 
tions must be observed by all those who attempt to 
provide ^^modeF' dwellings for working people. 
The rental must be low enough for the members of 
the group to pay, since the cost of shelter must not 
exceed a definite part of the income. The studies 
of family budgets thus far do not enable us to fix 
this ratio with exactness. A second condition of 
keeping the dwellings in sanitary condition is some 
provision for constant supervision and control. 
Furthermore, when decent habitations have been 
built the well-paid artisans are inclined to take them, 
fresh and clean, and crowd out the poor laborers for 
whom they were provided. Many schemes have 
come to grief at this point. 

Standard for Dwellings, — Requirements for shel- 
ter cannot be so exactly stated as those for food. 

Dr. Chapin ^ reaches the conclusion that a family 
requires at least one room to every one and a half 
persons. But the arrangements for light, ventilation, 
exclusion of lodgers, sanitary appliances, care of 
courts, proximity of playgrounds and other factors 
must also be studied in connection with a standard. 

In the Port Sunlight village ^ no house has less 

^ R. C. Chapin : The Standard of Living, p. i8. 

S. Nearing: Financing the Wage Earner's Family, p. 73. 

2 W. L. George : Laborer and Housing at Port Sunlight 
(1909), 72 ff. This book contains many technical descrip- 
tions of arrangements. 

173 



Citizens in Industry 



than five rooms, three of which are bedrooms. Mr. 
George says: ''If the Port Sunlight system is to 
solve the housing problem, it will be because it has 
accepted and exceeded the four-room standard, with- 
out which it is difficult for a family to be brought 
up, I do not say under good sanitary conditions 
. . . but in such a manner as to fit its members to 
take their place among those that are clean in mind 
and soul." And after describing the depraving con- 
ditions of crowding in London and other cities he 
adds: ''Their fate is to be subjected from their 
childhood upward to the foulest temptations and 
examples, to be herded together irrespective of age 
or sex, untaught and unshepherded, to be taunted in 
after years with their moral degradation by the 
middle-class authors of their misery. We know or 
should realize that at the root of all forms of vice, 
particularly drunkenness, lies the problem of hous- 
ing; evil conditions mean depression, and, for the 
slag of a social system, the only resource, fleeting 
but efficacious, is the public-house, and its costly 
hospitality." ^ The claim is made for the Port 
Sunlight experiment that it has reduced intemper- 
ance. One of the first effects of twenty years of 
good housing has been a deep and probably radical 
transformation of habits said to be hereditary, but 
due in reality to an apparently hopeless combina- 
tion of evils. Cleanliness accompanies sobriety; 
illegitimacy is rare; no drunkenness, no deserted 
wives and children, no wife beating, no immorality; 
^ See Charles Kingsley: Yeast. 
174 



Improving the Home Life 

increased deposits in the savings banks; low rate of 
infant mortality, which is the best indication of 
wholesome conditions and habits; regular school 
attendance of the children. 

In the celebrated town built up by the Krupp 
Company near Essen, Germany,^ the corporation 
laid out the area, planned the buildings, and ar- 
ranged the common services. In this case the firm 
could command sufficient capital to make plans on 
a grand scale, to build many dwellings at the lowest 
cost per room, and to command the services of the 
best architects. The houses are rented under con- 
tracts which permit control by supervisors, in order 
to keep out persons and families which are disagree- 
able, disorderly, immoral, or where children are 
not under efficient domestic discipline. Sanitary con- 
ditions are supervised and evils promptly corrected. 
These regulations may be felt as an unwarranted 
invasion of personal liberty; but those who do not 
like order and cleanliness are at liberty to go fur- 
ther and do worse, outside. As a matter of fact 
the demand is said to go before the supply 
and only families who have worked some years 
for the firm can be accommodated. The work- 
men are near to their work and are not ex- 
hausted by long tramps between their homes and 
the mill. 

Legal Obstacles. — The laws relating to corpora- 
tions are occasionally found in conflict with the plans 

^ W. Kley : Bei Krupp, cine socialpolitische Reiseskizze 

X1899), 

175 



Citizens in Industry 



to provide dwellings for employees through coop- 
erative arrangements. 

Thus in Illinois the Pullman Company, formed 
primarily for the purpose of manufacturing cars, 
built a model town for the residence of the work- 
men's families. After many years, upon trial of a 
test case, the Supreme Court of the state compelled 
the company to dispose of its ownership and control 
of this property, on the ground that it had not been 
given the right in its articles of incorporation to 
engage in the business.^ 

Another legal obstacle has been raised by the 
fear in America lest latifundia or ^'bonanza" tracts 
shall be owned by capitalists, perhaps by foreigners, 
and thus a race of serfs be created and have no 
power to purchase homesteads near where they must 
work. In consequence of this fear, there are laws 
which forbid the acquisition of land for the erection 
of garden villages on even a philanthropic or coop- 
erative basis. In making plans these legal difficulties 
must be carefully considered in advance, as the Pull- 
man case shows. 

Cooperation with Municipalities. — In the crowded 
quarters of manufacturing towns the effort to im- 
prove dwellings cannot be made a separate issue. 
Nevertheless all rational motives impel wise man- 
agers to cooperate in the general plans of better- 
ment made by the municipality or state. The capi- 
talists as a permanent class have a common interest 
in the rearing of generations of laborers under 

^ People ex reL Maloney's Pullman Co.. 175 111. 125. 
176 



Improving the Home Life 

wholesome conditions, and their influential coopera- 
tion with public authorities is in the highest degree 
socially desirable. 

One method of providing homes is that of form- 
ing a real-estate company which lays out a tract of 
land under the direction of landscape artists, engi- 
neers and architects, builds cottages with pleasing 
and varied architecture, plants trees, and then sells 
to the workmen on easy terms. In such cases the 
purchaser must have assurance that if he leaves the 
service of the company his investment and tenure 
will not be placed in jeopardy. An intelligent man 
does not like to feel that his ownership may involve 
him in a degree of servile dependence. 

Perhaps welfare work shines nowhere else with 
brighter luster than in those industrial villages 
where families can have a little space of their own, 
a garden for congenial occupation and enjoyment 
of the fruits of family cooperation, and access to the 
refined pleasures of a decent and rational existence. 

Experience has shown that many families, even 
when accustomed to the excitement of the crowded 
city, are willing to escape from the smoke, grime 
and friction of the tenements if they can be sure of 
a suburban home where the children have elbow- 
room without fighting for it with each other and 
with the policemen. The denizen of the metropolis 
rarely likes the solitude and deadly quiet of an iso- 
lated farm; but he may be enticed halfway to the 
land, if he does not thereby lose touch with his 
fellows, 

177 



Citizens in Industry 



The tenement house is, for economic reasons, a 
necessity in cities, and yet it cannot be made a normal 
habitation for a family,^ even with the aid of a brief 
summer outing in the country. The improvement in 
physique and in all that depends on this must be 
sought chiefly in rearrangement of suburban and 
small town industries so as to give more space for 
homes, and a little opportunity for the primitive 
industry of gardening. 

When a town is built to order and on separate 
territory it must be complete ; nothing can be left to 
chance. The dwellings must be protected against 
the encroachment of work-places with their smoking 
chimneys, their masses of raw materials, their utili- 
tarian lines of structure, their insistent suggestions 
of painful toil. The mills and factories must be 
restricte^d to the areas set apart for them at a proper 
distance from homes. The streets are not ready for 
use without planting of trees, breadths of green 
sward and neat pavements and walks. A little space 
for flowers, shrubs and gardens must be in the plans. 
At intervals playgrounds for the children are re- 
served and equipped. *^No child to be more than 
five minutes' walk from a playground," is an English 
rule worth following everywhere; it gives definite 
expression to a concrete moral standard. Reading- 
rooms, libraries, bowling alleys, swimming pools, 
schools, halls for entertainment, open-air amphithe- 
aters for drama and music, and properly equipped 
theater with stage for winter, recreation grounds for 

^ De Forest and Veiller : The Tenement House Problem. 

178 



Improving the Home Life 

men, women and children, are modern necessities, 
and nearness to home adds to their value. The rent 
must be low enough to attract working people from 
the insanitary tenements of cities. 

In these suburban quarters, and also in the *^gar- 
den cities,'' skillful teachers of gardening make the 
little patches of soil far more prolific than they would 
be without professional guidance. 

Significant is the garden in connection with the 
home. It is a sure and important source of income.^ 
The yield of a small plot of ground, carefully culti- 
vated, is incredible to an ordinary farmer accus- 
tomed to superficial exploitation by extensive meth- 
ods. With a little care we might learn from the 
Chinese and Japanese how the waste and refuse of 
the household enter by the cycle of transformations 
into materials for new life and solve the problem 
of sewage and garbage removal. The older chil- 
dren and the wife can, without the dangers of fac- 
tory labor, add to the material resources of the 
home. 

The garden becomes in hours of leisure and Sun- 
days a playground where parents and children enjoy 
most satisfactory recreation out of a profitable en- 
terprise, as can be seen in the open spaces near Leip- 
sic and other German cities. 

The fruitful, responsive garden is a rival of the 

^ Kropotkin : The Conquest of Bread. 

F. H. King: Farmers of Forty Centuries. 

Bolton Hall: Three Acres and Liberty; A Little Land 
and a Living. 

179 



Citizens in Industry 



saloon, and gives the man a share in the creation of 
beautiful flowers and shrubs which awaken his es- 
thetic nature and give insight into biology, and an 
interest in all science which can be stimulated and 
deepened by lectures and exhibits. 

The offer of prizes for the best vegetables, flow- 
ers and fruits furnishes a motive for beginning, as 
the county fair has long since made clear. It is not 
the pecuniary value of the premium alone which in- 
spires action, but chiefly the social distinction, which 
is emphasized by publication of the honors won, in 
local newspapers. 

It is said that many miners are of a roving dispo- 
sition, which is in part caused by irregularity of em- 
ployment, with intervals of idleness; and that the 
cultivation of a garden tends to keep them at home, 
and so to favor steady habits. One does not like 
in midsuriimer to go off on a spree and leave two 
hundred dollars' worth of vegetables to weeds and 
thieves. 

Inspection and Control of Dwellings. — -The Ford 
Company (automobile manufacturers) has intro- 
duced startling and even spectacular changes in their 
shops, offering wages which few competing firms 
could offer without facing early bankruptcy. It is 
too early to foresee the outcome in this exceptional 
instance, but it is worth while to point out the fact 
that this increase of wages is accompanied by drastic 
and even despotic measures to increase efliiciency — • 
measures which extend to inspection and control of 
the person5»l habits and domestic life of the employ- 

l8o 



Improving the Home Life 

ees. People who are rather critical may have con- 
demned Mr. Ford's plan of dividing the profits of 
his automobile business with his men, providing a 
$5 minimum wage and thus bestowing on many what 
must appear to them to be sudden wealth. It seems, 
however, that he had given full thought to the effects 
and consequences of the step before it was taken. 
He hopes that the increased wages will be v/ell spent, 
if a considerable amount of friendly espionage — ^if 
it may be called so — can effect that result. 

*^The man who finds himself blessed with an In- 
come such as he had never hoped to attain," writes 
Len G. Shaw for the Detroit Free Press, ^'is not go- 
ing to be left to work out his own salvation, accord- 
ing to the light he may possess. He must give an 
accounting of his stewardship along more rigid lines 
than were ever before attempted in profit-sharing; 
but it is equally true that as administrator of his own 
destiny he is to receive assistance such as was never 
before rendered by a manufacturing corporation or 
any other agency, for that matter." 

Mr. Shaw continues : 

**The public had not recovered from its surprise 
when a staff of investigators started forth, charged 
with most unusual duties. Straight into the homes of 
employees these men went. They set about the task 
as methodically as they make automobiles in the 
plant where this revolution had taken place. 

*^Each man carried with him a list of names of 
employees. There was the most astonishing impar- 
tiality in this respect. Tony Catalina, laborer, who 

i8i 



Citizens in Industry 



at night crawled Into a dirty bed in a third-class lodg- 
ing house, and the foreman of a department who 
had been with the company for years, might appear 
on one list. And each would come in for as search- 
ing an investigation as the other. The information 
thus gained is going to play an important part in 
the future welfare of Tony Catalina and the fore- 
man. Upon their worth as citizens and the manner 
in which they improve their opportunities will be de- 
pendent the increased remuneration they receive, for 
it is here as elsewhere a survival of the fittest. 

**It is often the case that a man of extraordinary 
efficiency in the plant has no appreciation of his duty 
to the community at large, no regard for home life. 
His conduct outside working hours may be such 
that he is a menace to the morals of the neighbor- 
hood. He may live amid unspeakable conditions. 
If such a state of affairs is unearthed, the man is in- 
formed that he must turn over a new leaf — and keep 
it turned. He must better his own manner of living 
and that of those dependent upon him, if such there 
are, or he cannot continue to share in the benefits to 
be distributed. He will be given every encourage- 
ment and afforded all the assistance possible if he 
evinces a willingness to make good. If after a fair 
trial no improvement is shown he is down and out, 
and again it makes no difference whether it is hum- 
ble Tony Catalina, laborer, or a high-salaried fore- 
man. 

'^On the other hand, it is very often the case that 
a man of mediocre capabilities owns or is paying 

l82 



Improving the Home Life 

for his home and is bringing his family up in com- 
parative luxury. This will be taken note of and 
serve as a credit in striking the balance it is intended 
to maintain for all time. 

*^It is the determination of the company that all 
money disbursed in the form of increased wages shall 
be devoted to some useful purpose. 

'*Where such a course is justified, there will be in- 
sistence upon housing conditions undergoing a 
change. This demand will be made reasonable be- 
cause of the increased compensation a man will re- 
ceive, and his ability to thus provide more comfort- 
able quarters. 

**Employees will be urged to invest in land con- 
tracts, or start savings accounts. What is more, they 
will from time to time be required to render an ac- 
counting of what has been accomplished. And the 
more favorable the showing, all things taken into 
consideration, the greater will be the reward. Fac- 
tory efficiency will be reckoned in this connection, 
thus silencing the criticism of those who asserted that 
a wholesale raising of wages tended to throttle am- 
bition and kill off individualism. 

'^Every beneficiary is placed on his individual 
honor, but a complete record of his conduct will be 
constantly available — shop and home progress, what 
becomes of the money he receives — and woe betide 
the one who attempts misrepresentation. 

*'This system of registration is unique in an un- 
dertaking of this nature. By reference to it there 
can be determined in an instant the habits of every 

183 



Citizens in Industry 



employee, age, family relations, whether single or 
married, how many are dependent upon him, etc. 
Nothing is taken for granted. Armed with what in- 
formation can be obtained from the man himself, 
the investigator calls at the home or the boarding 
house and ascertains conditions there. The quest 
for facts is carried even further. The seeker after 
light visits the haunts of individuals, becomes ac- 
quainted with their associates, and thus learns what 
he wants to know from presumably reliable sources. 
On these findings he bases his report, and this to a 
large extent determines the disposition of the case, 
unless an appeal is taken. 

*'It will be ascertained whether the foreign la- 
borers plan to bring their families to this country 
In the near future, or whether they are saving up 
so they cai^ go back to their native land. They will 
be encouraged to bank their money, instead of trust- 
ing it to the keeping of their fellow-boarders or 
hoarding it away in hiding-places that are not always 
secret. The question of better housing for this class 
must soon or late come up for solution, and it is 
more than likely that municipal cooperation will be 
invited along this line." 

Results are already apparent. Efficiency in the 
works has increased. Mr. Ford is quoted by John 
A. Fitch in The Survey as saying that ''our men are 
doing as much work now in eight hours as they did 
before in nine." From the same source it is learned 
that already there has been a remarkable epidemic 
of hovisecleaning. 

184 



Improving the Home Life 

This remarkable experiment forces upon us the 
question whether a method which produces such ex- 
cellent results under private and unauthorized direc- 
tion should not be made the duty of authorized pub- 
lic officials; if such surveillance is desirable on a small 
scale and with the corps of a single firm why is it not 
desirable for all men, in all industrial centers? 
Would it not be well to improve the quality and ex- 
tend the functions of municipal health departments, 
and provide them adequate means for enforcing the 
regulations demanded by modern hygienic science? 
It may be well to remember that the deliverance of 
the Philippines and of the Panama Canal Zone from 
the ancient plagues of tropical regions was not due 
chiefly to the special knowledge of the surgeons in 
charge, but to the fact that modern medical men were 
there for the first time clothed with sufficient power 
to drill and discipline negligent and uninstructed lay- 
men until the very sources of infection were removed. 
This lesson of private enterprise and of public 
achievenient should not be lost upon the adminis- 
trators of our cities. The best service of a vigorous 
and inventive manager is to set the pace for the gov- 
ernments which are the organs of all the people. 

Octavia Hill Methods. — Not only must dwellings 
be inspected to prevent filth and disease, but there 
are whole communities which require visitors, armed 
with the rights and authority of rent collectors, to 
make friends with the occupants and use their influ- 
ence to improve habits and character. This is a les- 
son which the famous and honored Octavia Hill, as- 

185 



Citizens in Industry 



sisted by John Ruskin, has taught the world. The 
eminent economist, Professor Karl Buecher, praised 
her work and declared that human kindness has a 
high pecuniary value. ^ 

^ For a list of works on housing and town planning, see 
A Guide to Reading in Social Ethics and Allied Subjects, by 
teachers in Harvard University, 8i ff. The National 
Housing Association, 105 East 22d street. New York City, 
will furnish information. The Russell Sage Foundation, 
New York City, is making experiments with modest suburban 
homes which deserve attention. See Grosvenor Atterbury: 
Model Towns in America. 



CHAPTER V 

NEGLECTED AND HOMELESS YOUTHFUL EMPLOYEES 

Responsibility. — The great industries are magnets 
which annually attract a vast number of girls and 
boys to the towns and cities from the farms where 
there is not enough employment for all. It is true 
that many of these minors live at home with their 
parents and are under their care ; but multitudes are 
exposed to all the vicissitudes and temptations of city 
life, without mentors, and with their earnings free 
from control. The problem of securing a decent 
boarding place is difficult, and a mistake may mean 
moral perdition. Employers of such minors must 
recognize that they have here a duty to perform, 
even if they refuse to admit such obligation in re- 
gard to adults. 

The capitalist managers as a class have a pecu- 
niary interest in all the groups of the population 
which furnish the supply of labor; but this is only 
one consideration. The capitalist managers control 
not only wealth but men, and they have influence 
with officials and legislators. Through their clubs 
and associations they can wield a mighty force in 
directing law-makers and executive actions. The 
managers of business enterprise are also citizens, 

187 



Citizens in Industry 



and a growing number of them have the worthy 
ambition to make themselves felt for good in the 
government of cities, states and nation. It is to 
such motives appeal is made here on behalf of neg- 
lected and exploited children and youth in our indus- 
trial and commercial centers who, if they survive the 
diseases of early life, enter the productive processes 
crippled, mutilated, diseased, demoralized. The 
theme is too large for a chapter, yet too important 
to pass over in a discussion designed to indicate some 
of the responsibilities and opportunities of em- 
ployers. 

First of all, in spite of many improvements and 
reforms, we permit children to work at street trades, 
and it has been difficult or impossible to secure the 
cooperation of many of the great newspapers in at- 
tracting public attention to this evil. It is pitiful how 
a mistaken notion of financial interest will blind the 
eyes of keen and intelligent men to the physical and 
moral perils of children engaged in selling papers on 
the streets, especially young girls. The evils are so 
little understood by the general public that generous 
persons make a virtue of buying papers of the mis- 
erable and ragged creature who shivers and sobs on 
the street of a wintry night and begs the men to buy. 
There have been those who through sheer ignorance 
of the consequences of street trades actually defend 
them on the ground that these '^little merchants" are 
acquiring experience in ^^business"; and thus public 
opinion not only tolerates but fosters these **blind 
alley" occupations out of which the youth emerges 

i88 



Neglected Youthful Employees 

with the loss of the best years of his life for train- 
ing in a really useful trade. The waste of hu- 
manity in these street trades without a future is 
something tragic. Among the worst offenders have 
been the telegraph and express companies, who, 
when permitted by public apathy, blindness and 
defective law, have sent lads at night into saloons 
and houses of ill fame. What kind of citizens 
can come out of such unclean experiences? There 
are enough crippled men and aged persons to do 
all such errands without spoiling life in the 
bud. 

In a single chapter Mrs. Bowen,^ who has directed 
wealth, work, and talent to the protection of children 
and youth, recites some of the further measures of 
protection which ought to be adopted. She com- 
plains, and justly, that when women's clubs had at 
their own cost and by their own patient labor and 
sacrifice established nurses in the pubHc schools, and 
probation officers in the juvenile courts, and gathered 
facts about the exploitation of children and women in 
factories, they were excluded from all control of 
the institutions thus created and men with a '^pull" 
reigned supreme ! For many years women have 
pleaded for a birth registration law; for an act 
raising the '*age of consent," for municipal control 
of the milk supply, for social service in public out- 
door relief, for an efficient child labor law, for an 
effective method of protecting unmarried mothers 
and their babes, for a more sane marriage license 
^ '^Safeguards for City Youth at Work and Play." 
189 



Citizens in Industry 



system, for obligatory asylum treatment of irrespon- 
sible girls. In a great measure their wise, sane, per- 
sistent, and patriotic efforts have resulted in securing 
the enactment of laws by legislatures which resisted 
to the last hour — and then? The politicians gave the 
offices to other politicians of a lower class and the 
women were compelled to toil on to make the law 
accomplish something in spite of the "Machine." 
If the busy men of this country really wish to improve 
the condition of life for children they must give a 
larger legal and political power to those who have 
leisure to inquire and the maternal instincts and ex- 
perience, that is to women. He who really and sin- 
cerely wills an end must also will the necessary means 
for accomplishing the end. 

Typical homes for working boys are found in 
various German industrial centers. One is described 
as a statWy house built on a sunny slope. The 
ground floor contains a large dining-room and two 
living-rooms provided with newspapers and games. 
The dwelling of the manager of the house, with its 
servants' rooms and housekeeping rooms, is separate 
and has a separate entrance. The first and second 
stories contain 1 1 rooms with a total of 30 beds, a 
washroom and toilet. Each boy has a bed, a table, 
a mirror, and a clothespress containing several 
drawers fitted with locks. The bedrooms are used 
only for sleeping and are not heated. All other 
rooms, including the hall, are heated by a central 
heating system. Hot and cold water is furnished in 
the washroom, and a cupboard is set apart for every 

190 



Neglected Youthful Employees 

lad in which he can keep a towel and necessary uten- 
sils. The house furnishes bed linen, night-shirt and 
towels.^ The basement contains the heating plant, 
housekeeping rooms, store-room and lockers. For 
board and lodging each boy pays 96 cents a week, 
which barely covers cost. The firm offers the house 
free and pays for management. A cultured woman 
manages the house and cares for the boys like a 
mother. The establishment is not only a boarding 
house but the nearest possible substitute for a home 
and school. 

**It has been estimated that if a girl does not live 
at home she cannot live on less than $8.00 per week, 
for she must pay $1.50 to $2.00 a week for her 
room, $3.00 for her board, 60 cents for her carfare 
and 90 cents for luncheons; this leaves her only 
$1.50 or $2.00 for clothes, doctors, dentists, litera- 
ture and recreation." A study of 200 girls in de- 
partment stores in Chicago showed that the wages 
ran from $2.50 to $1 i.oo a week, the majority under 
$8.00. The report of the Commissioner of Labor 
on ^'Conditions of Women and Child Wage Earners 
in the United States'' shows that in 8 of the leading 
department stores of Chicago, out of 13,160 women 
and girls, over one-half, or 7,033, earned less than 
$8.00 a week; many less than $5.00 a week; 13 per 
cent, in retail stores, 29 per cent, in clothing trades, 
27 per cent, in candy trades, 17 per cent, in box fac- 
tories, 5 per cent, in corset factories, 29 per cent, in 

^ Kiibler und Niethammer : in Albrecht ; Handb. der Soz, 
Wohlf., i, 134 ff. 

191 



Citizens in Industry 

stockyards less than $5.00 per week. Even if 
the girls live at home 8 1 per cent, of factory women 
in Chicago and 78 per cent, of those working in de- 
partment stores contribute of their earnings to the 
family exchequer. 

There are 5,000,000 working women in the 
United States, one-half of them under 24 years of 
age; one-fifth of them earn less than $200 a year 
or $4 a week; 3.5 per cent, earn less than $325 a 
year or about $6 a week. 

''The girl who lives at home and who gives her 
wages to her mother, is of course protected in that 
she is sheltered and fed, but the girl who is not living 
at home is obliged to rent the cheapest room she can 
find from a landlady who is utilizing every possible 
inch of space for lodgers; the girl is able to rent 
only a small hall bedroom, badly lighted, inade- 
quately Ventilated and poorly furnished, and it is 
only a short time before impure air and improperly 
cooked food produce an anemic condition which 
offers a fertile field for disease." ^ 

The facts made known by such investigations re- 
veal gross neglect and serious responsibility of man- 
agers of hotels, restaurants, department stores and 
factories. Under such conditions health is broken 
down, women are rendered unfit for maternal func- 

^ Mrs. Louise de Koven Bowen : Safeguards for City 
Youth, pp. 55-56— a book full of information on the condi- 
tions surrounding young people in cities. 

Cf. Jane Addams: The Spirit of Youth and the City 
Streets. 

192 



Neglected Youthful Employees 

tions, life is joyless, monotonous, and the path beset 
by temptations. The only wonder is that more 
girls are not driven into the ways of the prostitute. 
Mrs. Bowen, while insisting upon these dangers to 
character, urges that we should not suspect the hon- 
esty of the majority of these working girls and 
women. *'I cannot but deplore the general inference 
that is being made at the present time that large num- 
bers of girls are being driven into a disreputable life 
because they receive an insufficient wage. While it 
is true that girls who are inadequately fed, badly 
housed and poorly clothed sometimes do yield to 
temptation in order that they may live more comfort- 
ably, yet on the other hand, there is an enormous 
number and of course by far the larger part of them 
who not only resist temptation, but, true to their 
traditions and innate convictions, turn indignantly 
from it." ^ 

The excuse offered by many employers is that they 
cannot afford to provide better quarters and pay 
higher wages because competition fixes these condi- 
tions of the labor market, and that any attempt to 
provide decent income and accommodations would 
mean bankruptcy. There is a grain of truth in this 
explanation and apology, but there is a way out, if 
the managers are in earnest; they can encourage col- 
lective bargaining and minimum-wage laws, the only 
means ever yet found effective for raising the level 
of competition to a plane where the intelligent con- 
sumer can enjoy commodities and services without 

1 Op, ciU 



Citizens In Industry 



the pangs of remorse. Only too often the employ- 
ers have combined to resist these efforts, and in that 
case they must bear as a class the full responsibility 
for the continuance of abuses which ought to shock 
the moral nature of every citizen. 

Even short of these general measures it is possible 
to provide social secretaries in hotels, restaurants, 
factories and mercantile establishments who can hear 
complaints, give wise counsel to ignorant young girls, 
and bring immoral brutes of foremen, guests or cus- 
tomers to punishment for luring their inexperienced 
victims into places of evil repute. 

Working GirW Homes. — These ar^ in all essen- 
tial particulars similar to those for boys; only that 
girls can do more in the way of caring for their own 
rooms, washing and even cooking for themselves. 
Instruction in household arts is for its own sake very 
desirable.^ 

In Germany the managers sometimes invite the 
cooperation of orders of Catholic or Protestant re- 
ligious sisters or brothers to have the care of the 
young people; this reduces the cost and improves 
the quality of the service. 

In Osaka, Japan, some of the boarding establish- 
ments for girls observed by the writer are very elab- 
orate, and beautiful though simple. The customs 
and climate permit the use of dormitories almost 
without furniture, but clean, tidy and comfortable. 
The employees of the vast textile mills are not 
obliged to leave the grounds for their entertainment, 
and any excursions about the city would be ruin to 

194 



Neglected Youthful Employees 

their character and reputation. Within the ample 
grounds are cooperative bazaars where purchases can 
be made at cost. A theater furnishes amusement 
and recreation. The ceremonial feminine etiquette 
of the nation is taught by competent instructors. 
Medical advice and hospital care are ever ready at 
hand. 

At Madras, India, a British company employing 
young women from the rural regions, has established 
a considerable village of different buildings for dor- 
mitories, recreation, schools, hospital and all the es- 
sentials of complete living. The temporary transfer 
from clay floors of mud huts, with their insanitary 
and ugly surroundings, to these superior dwellings, 
must breed a discontent with the customary condi- 
tions which will bring pain, but also, we may hope, 
improvement at last in the native homes. This has 
certainly been the influence of similar experience at 
Hampton, Virginia, and Tuskegee, Alabama, in the 
case of the negro girls. If satisfied happiness with 
filth Is better than the misery which accompanies 
struggle for a higher level, of course this experiment 
is open to severe criticism. 

In a laudable desire to protect young women from 
temptation it is easy to adopt regulations totally for- 
eign to the spirit of the best American life. Lib- 
erty and self-direction have their perils, and occa- 
sionally lapses from virtue will make even adven- 
turous spirits almost skeptical of freedom. Yet 
there is no permanent security for character except 
in self-controL Walls and bars will never trans- 

^9Si 



Citizens in Industry 



form a feeble-minded person into a strong woman 
who not only protects herself from insult by her mod- 
esty and dignity, but even arouses in men a respect 
for womankind which makes boys and men purer 
and stronger. When the manager has used all rea- 
sonable measures for warding off temptation and 
providing means for rational living he must trust 
the forces of social ideahsm for the rest. Those 
who fail should be sent to a celibate colony of the 
feeble-minded for custodial treatment; they will be 
comparatively few, if educational and religious in- 
fluences of the right quality are offered. 

Homes for working girls must be free from pat- 
ronage, petty espionage and harsh rules. '*To a 
self-respecting young woman who is working hard 
to earn her own way in the world, the attitude of 
patronage and the feeling that she is being partially 
supported ^by charity are intolerable. The endless 
rules and regulations, the apparent assumption that 
she is by nature immoral and can be prevented from 
going straight to ruin only by being hedged about by 
all sorts of ironclad restrictions, are insulting and 
humiliating to her, and make the inmates of the 
'home' (God save the mark!) both rebellious and 
unhappy." ^ 

Closely related to these boarding homes for 
minors and other unmarried persons away from 
home are the self-supporting clubs which provide 
similar wholesome surroundings for employees in cit- 
ies, without direct connection with particular estab- 

^Mary K. Maule. 

196 



Neglected Youthful Employees 

lishments. Experiments have shown that an associa- 
tion of wise and capable philanthropists can organ- 
ize such clubs in a way to maintain self-respect; the 
founders securing the capital and credit necessary 
for renting the buildings and furnishing equipment, 
and assuring an economic management, while the 
weekly payments cover all expenses and reimburse 
the founders for the original outlay. 

^'A model dwelling for girls employed in the gov- 
ernment post-office and telegraph and telephone of- 
fices has been established in Paris. As in other cit- 
ies many of these young women live in the poorer 
quarters of the city, are improperly cared for and 
are exposed to many privations and temptations; 
many are homeless or far from parental influences. 
A company was formed with a capital of $80,000. 
A house was built, seven stories in height. In the 
basement is the kitchen; on the ground floor the hall, 
drawing-room, dining-room, and parlor. The walls 
are largely of glass for 'of all flowers, the human 
requires the most sun.' The floors are of marble. 
On the ground floor is a beautiful 'Jardin Fran- 
gals' decorated with flowers and shrubs. On each 
floor are eighteen separate rooms, including sleep- 
ing-rooms, pantries, bathrooms, telephone booths. 
The rooms are attractively decorated, and everything 
is washable, even to curtains and walls. The rooms 
are lighted by electricity and heated by steam, and 
each one opens upon a balcony. During the summer 
months the girls are expected to cultivate balcony 
gardens. The largest room rents for $7 per month 

J97 



Citizens in Industry 



and a dinner of four courses costs i6 cents. The 
building has become a civic center for working girls 
of Paris. Women's clubs are formed for discus- 
sions, and there are classes in dressmaking and lan- 
guage study." ^ 

The Young Men's Christian Association and the 
Young Women's Christian Association, and similar 
organizations of Catholics, Jews and others, have un- 
dertaken to provide a certain number of good board- 
ing places accessible to factories and mercantile es- 
tablishments where large numbers of homeless young 
people are employed. They are frequently encour- 
aged and subsidized by managers of firms because of 
their excellent influence. The rent received for the 
rooms and privileges of the house not only pays ex- 
penses but supplies a revenue to the associations. 

The '^Eleanor clubs" of Chicago, estabhshed by 
the capitaVand enterprise of a thoughtful and gen- 
erous woman, are self-supporting homes so economi- 
cally managed as to afford board and rooms at a cost 
within the means of girls of meager income, close to 
the minimum. A clubroom downtown, with rest- 
rooms and restaurant, enables the girls to have a 
comfortable hour at noon without paying carfare. 
The genial life of these clubs makes them very at- 
tractive, and the fact that they are not dependent on 
outside subsidies recommends them to brave and 
honest young women who are fighting their own 
battle in a city far from their own homes. They 
do not ask nor would they receive help from their 

^ American Review of Reviews, xxxv, 579-580. 
198 



Neglected Youthful Employees 

employers; but business men could well afford to 
promote such efforts by lending the initial capital 
and by selecting skillful managers. After that, in- 
terference would ruin the whole movement. 

The cityward drift of youth from the country Is 
very strong and it bears on its current many an in- 
dependent lad and girl, who, in the whirl of new 
and dazzling surroundings, away from the customary 
inhibitions of their former domestic life, may lose 
their footing. Their boarding and rooming houses 
are not always suitable places for the formation of 
character; although it is amazing how few relatively 
make shipwreck and how many hew their way 
through the rocky obstacles to success. Men who 
control property and require the services of an army 
of clerks and manual workers might well combine 
to supply wholesome dwellings for these young 
people, without those petty annoyances and humil- 
iating conditions which exasperate generous and 
high-spirited young people who are trying to make 
their own way and measure their strength against 
wind and wave. The Eleanor clubs show how this 
can be done. 



CHAPTER VI 

EDUCATION AND CULTURE 

The human needs are not completely met by 
improvement of income, food and physical com- 
fort. The working people have a right to all 
the heritage of our common civilization as far 
as each person Is capable of assimilating its quali- 
ties. The richest man is the greatest debtor to past 
generations and most dependent on the toilers of the 
present for his food and raiment. All men have 
the same ^ssential faculties, although in ability and 
advantages they are of all degrees of inequality. 
The Declaration of Independence says that aill men 
are created free and equal, though the assertion has 
been ridiculed on the ground that men are not alike 
in strength and capacity. Probably the signers of 
the Declaration were quite as well aware of the pe- 
culiar differences in men, as their recent critics; but 
they were looking deeper than the aristocrats and 
worshipers of the Superman; they saw that all men 
are of one essence, of one blood, and need the same 
spiritual food. The progress of the people since 
they wrote this classic of democracy vindicates their 
prophecy. There is not a single form of higher 
values for which there is not heart-hunger in the 

200 



Education and Culture 



homes of the wage-earners; and from cottages 
emerge scholars, Inventors, artists, orators, rulers; 
and this source of talent and genius still awaits full 
exploitation by universal education and partial re- 
lease from exhausting toil.^ Welfare work must 
count with these higher aspirations of the rising 
democracy. The men who perform the most dis- 
agreeable, monotonous, depressing labor for society 
have the first claim on beauty, truth and liberty. 
Americans are said by foreign cities to be worshipers 
of the almighty dollar; but it was an American, the 
poet Lanier, who sang of the rights of toilers to 
music and joy in '^The Symphony." No philosophers 
ever saw more clearly than our Emerson, Channing 
and Lincoln the divine possibilities of our common 
human nature and of daily toil. We must confess 
that we have many Philistines who care little for 
Matthew Arnold's **sweetness and light" for all, and 
who cynically mock at the Declaration of Independ- 
ence, the Beatitudes of Jesus, and who never read 
Emerson's essay on ^^Compensation." If they read 
Lincoln's speeches it is to yawn or sneer. But their 
insolence is not American; it is atavistic snobbery or 
childish imitation of inferior foreign examples, and 
will grow ashamed of itself in time when it is dis- 
covered how little money can buy, how much frater- 
nal cooperation can produce. 

The facts recited in this chapter indicate the move- 
ment among the better class of capitalist managers 

^See for expansion of this statement, L. F. Ward: Ap- 
plied Sociology. 

201 



Citizens in Industry 



toward sincere respect for the best elements in human 
life, while they also painfully show how tardy, slow 
and uncertain this movement is; the story awakens 
hope but calls for deeper insight, greater vigor, and 
more directed service. 

Mr. Arthur Williams has recognized the claim of 
the toiler in saying that education ^'gives a man a 
chance with his fellow who has had the opportunity 
of spending more years out of industry and in an edu- 
cational institution, the man who had a university 
education. His chances for becoming economically 
independent in life are four to one against the other 
man." The removal of obstacles to self-realization 
is an act of justice and a duty of patriotism. 

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

Many iWnagers of industry and commerce find 
fault with the public schools for their failure to teach 
and train competent workmen in shops and clerical 
employees in offices. Defects in spelling, in draw- 
ing, in general intelligence and alertness are charged 
against the schools. On the basis of this discontent 
with the ordinary institutions of education, 200 cor- 
porations, employing over 500,000 persons and rep- 
resenting $2,500,000,000 capital,^ and many employ- 
ers of less note, have themselves entered the field 
of education. No doubt the experiment will ulti- 
mately show how to improve the curriculum and 
methods of the public schools, and a way of coop- 
^ F. C. Henderschott in New York Press, Feb. 15, 1914. 
202 



Education and Culture 



eration seems already to have been discovered in 
many places. All life activities may be given an edu- 
cational value. 

In the campaign for the introduction of indus- 
trial and commercial training the amazing success 
of Germany is frequently cited : its continuation, vo- 
cational and commercial schools are praised, stud- 
ied and copied. But there is danger of our imitating 
a part of the German program while overlooking 
some of its higher elements, and of copying features 
not adapted to American conditions. The wonder- 
ful progress of Germany in industry and trade Is 
not due primarily or chiefly to technical and profes- 
sional training, but to fundamental scientific disci- 
pline in universities, to the general intelligence of the 
people, to the national campaign for physical cul- 
ture continued through more than a century, to the 
application of artistic form in life and in industry, 
and to the effects of compulsory education on the 
population. The German people have not only 
many clerks and salesmen who are cunning with the 
tricks of the counting-room, but also men in large 
numbers who are in all fields specialists and masters 
of all that the world has learned in their particular 
lines. 

So long as the majority of our American working 
people are restricted to the monotonous, narrow, and 
coarse processes of manufacture of crude products 
we shall be servile dependents on the nations like 
France and Italy who breed and develop artists and 
artisans everywhere. So long as our highest achieve- 

203 



Citizens in Industry 



ments are in the production and export of grain, coal, 
ore, wool, cotton, rails and even locomotives, we 
must rank third or fourth among the progressive na- 
tions. A Philistine ideal of vocational education 
must in the end defeat itself. The specialist may be 
so trained as to be deformed. 

The writer has inspected reform schools in Italy 
where the teachers were following American meth- 
ods in manual training, but adding a fine and gracious 
finish to the articles made by the boys which made 
them genuinely artistic beyond what can be seen in 
similar schools in the United States. 

''There are a thousand instances in which parents 
are at their wits' ends what to do with their boys 
when the school days end, and lads drift into blind- 
alley situations that give no scope for their bent or 
talent. The fate of others is even more deplorable, 
for they may shuffle through half a dozen different 
jobs as small wage-earners, and be discharged with 
no career at all. Some of our greatest industrial un- 
dertakings have been built up by the humblest, and 
with establishment of a system of choice of employ- 
ment, and employers on the lookout for the most 
likely youths for introduction to their workshops 
and drawing offices, an increase of originality may 
be expected in production." 

We Americans are just beginning to realize that 
beauty has a rapidly growing commercial value. We 
may export raw cotton, materials for paints and oil, 
and then import the same materials which gave us 
only a few cents, as a painting v/orth hundreds or 

204 



Education and Culture 



thousands of dollars. The Japanese pottery manu- 
facturers take a worthless lump of clay and so manip- 
ulate it that they can sell to us a beautiful dish or 
vase. It is art's magical touch which makes all the 
difference. It makes one ashamed to suggest this 
argument from the pecuniary selling price of good 
taste, but it is the only one the '^practical" Philistine 
can understand, and we need his money for art 
classes ; perhaps his children will discern that beauti- 
ful objects have a value quite independent of the 
price they bring in the market. By whatever route 
we travel we must soon come to admit that artistic 
education is an economic necessity; that in a progres- 
sive world crude products of coarse labor must wait 
outside for lucrative custom. 

It was natural that employers of labor should be- 
gin with what they call ''practical education/' or 
training for trade skill. While the old apprentice- 
ship system has become obsolete and has been aban- 
doned, the world of the trades is looking for a sub- 
stitute and making numerous experiments. Here 
again the patriarchal system is not altogether anti- 
quated, though it must assume new forms. Educa- 
tion cannot be divorced from actual practice. The 
manual training school, independent of all shops, 
rendered a great service to general culture and 
gave a preliminary discipline in the use of tools and 
materials ; but experience revealed a wide chasm be- 
tween even the manual training school and the actual 
shop. Managers and teachers are now building a 
bridge over this chasm. There are four parties di- 

205 



Citizens in Industry 



rectly interested: the family of the boy and girl, the 
employer, the trade union, and the public; in the 
best system all four unite in counsel and plan, and 
a reasonable compromise is reached by negotiation. 
This assumes that the right to collective bargaining 
exists, and that it should be guarded against indirect 
attacks from some other and conflicting interests. 

If trades could be fully taught in schools no such 
combination of forces would be necessary; but the 
final touch of practice must be given in the place 
where the process is carried on regularly and for 
profit. Only in this relation is the lad's work tested 
as it must be when he is an independent workman 
and must stand or fall as he meets the requirements 
fixed by a competitive world. Another fact is that 
many boys cannot continue their education long 
enough to become proficient unless they receive at 
least s6me pay. The solution of the problem of 
technical education is approached from various di- 
rections. 

The ''continuation school" has been adapted to 
German industrial conditions for many years with 
highly satisfactory results. In this system a part of 
the day is devoted by the apprentice to the service of 
his employer; the other part is given to the public 
school where instruction is directed to improve work- 
manship. Thus the boy is kept longer under cultural 
influence, his earning power for life is enhanced, and 
he has less idle time for the formation of immoral 
habits. If provision is made for recreation and so- 
ciability this is a desirable discipline. The period 

206 



Education and Culture 



for the ^^continuation school" is from the fourteenth 
to the eighteenth year, a time least valuable for 
earning income but most valuable for forming good 
habits and adding to knowledge. 

In the best system attendance is obligatory dur- 
ing this whole period. Instruction is given in the 
evening or at certain hours of the day. If Instruc- 
tion is given in the evening care must be taken that 
the pupil is not too fatigued to profit by his instruc- 
tion. The purpose of the school is in part to review 
what has been learned in the elementary school; be- 
cause youth often forgets what childhood has been 
taught, unless the knowledge is kept alive by use. 
Talents are discovered. An artist may be developed 
by the teacher of drawing and decoration; and a way 
may be opened by a scholarship to attend classes in 
a school of painting or sculpture. Among the cul- 
ture studies pursued are: the language of the coun- 
try, with practice in talking, reading and writing; 
mathematics, according to the needs of the calling 
and the capacity of the apprentice ; singing, and play- 
ing on some musical instrument, if there is talent; 
elementary political economy, civics, morals and 
manners, and law. The progress of the pupils is 
tested by examinations and inspection of the quality 
of work done, and is sometimes stimulated artifi- 
cially by prizes and distinctions. A gift of a set of 
tools at the end of the first year to a proficient youth 
is a distinct encouragement and substantial help. 

The thrift habit is cultivated by the present of a 
savings bank book, with a ''nest egg" credited, and 

207 



Citizens m Industry 



a requirement that part of the wages be set down 
every pay day, and this is deducted from what is due. 

Physical culture is assured by athletic societies, 
and helpful direction of exercise in the gymnasium 
and games. This is an element which ought never 
to be neglected with growing adolescents. 

The continuation school may be organized and 
supported by the corporation or by the town, with 
a subsidy from the corporation. 

American conditions are in many respects unlike 
those in Germany, and our methods of vocational 
training must take account of these differences. 

One difficulty in working the plan of cooperation 
between the school and the shop is to secure the 
proper facilities for practice. Only very large con- 
cerns can afford to set apart rooms, machinery and 
instructors for training apprentices. The firm which 
trains may not receive the benefit of the skilled serv- 
ice it has helped to develop. 

Since the general public has a pecuniary interest 
and duty it would seem logical to distribute the bur- 
den of cost between local schools, employers and 
the commonwealth. And this principle is actually 
recognized, as at Beverley, Massachusetts.^ 

The Illinois State Federation of Labor cites with 
approval a passage from the writings of the distin- 
guished educational philosopher. Professor John 
Dewey: '^No question under discussion in education 
IS so fraught with consequences for the future of 
democracy as the question of industrial education. 

^United Shoe Machinery Co. 
208 



Education and Culture 



Its right development will do more to make public 
education truly democratic than any other one agency 
now under consideration. Its wrong treatment will 
as surely accentuate all undemocratic tendencies in 
our present situation, by fostering and strengthen- 
ing class divisions in school and out. It is better to 
suffer for a while longer from the ills of our present 
lack of system till the truly democratic lines of ad- 
vance become apparent, than to separate industriq^l 
education sharply from general education, and there- 
by use it to mark off in the interests of employees a 
separate class of laborers." 

On the basis of the principles thus stated the Fed- 
eration declares: 'We disapprove the setting-up of 
any separate state or distinct board of administra- 
tion to have charge of vocational education. We 
believe that the vocational school courses should at 
all times be under the guidance and control of the 
school authorities having direction of general educa- 
tion, as the system best adapted to educate properly 
our children for their future activities as citizens, as 
workers, and as men and women capable of partici- 
pating in all the benefits and enjoyments of a higher 
civilization." 

Strong objections are urged against various Euro- 
pean school systems on the ground that the tuition 
fees are a barrier to education when the income is 
small; that the social position of a child is practically 
fixed at the age of ten years ; that only the children 
of rich people have a chance at higher education; 
that specialization in industry begins too early and 

%0i) 



Citizens m Industry 



tends to reduce the apprentice to a mere piece of 
animated machinery. 

In the United States many schools have been 
maintained in great mercantile establishments em- 
ploying hundreds and thousands of boys and girls 
who have been compelled to leave school to earn a 
living and whose education should be continued. 
Where a system of public continuation schools is al- 
ready well established these shop schools would not 
be necessary, except for the technical training; but 
during the transition stage they may render a valu- 
able service. 

Where a brief school period is used by the employ- 
ing firm to evade the compulsory school law require- 
ments there is sometimes bad faith and poor Instruc- 
tion; a school is not likely to be an advantage under 
such conditions; the motive must be genuine, and the 
educational ideals must not be debased. The curric- 
ulum may be like that of a continuation school, with 
classes In reading, writing, arithmetic, English, spell- 
ing, stenography, commercial geography, law and 
business methods. To this systematic instruction in 
elementary subjects may be added measures of rec- 
reation and general culture : military exercises, band, 
bugle corps, glee clubs, orchestra, chorus singing, 
mandolin clubs, dramatic performances, concerts, va- 
cation camps, boat excursions, library, reading-room, 
gymnasium, swimming pool. 

It Is affirmed by those who have tried the experi- 
ment that such schools Improve the health, vigor 
and endurance of the young people, the methods of 

210 



Education and Culture 



work, character, morality and outlook of the person- 
nel. * ^Unintelligent and wasteful labor has lessened. 
The wisdom of cooperation and mutual helpfulness 
has been recognized. Knowledge of merchandise, 
its production, distribution, and uses has been in- 
creased. Principles of control, government and or^ 
ganization have developed." 

Union of Employing Companies. — The National 
Metal Trades Association is an illustration of a sig- 
nificant tendency. This society has for its declared 
purpose **to secure and preserve equitable conditions 
in the workshops of members for the protection of 
both employer and employee," and ^^investigation 
and adjustment of questions arising between mem- 
bers and their employers." They have promoted the 
movement to improve industrial education by equip- 
ping a technical institute in one city; by securing 
scholarships for apprentice pupils in such schools; 
by cooperating with the school directors in manage- 
ment; by opening their shops for practice to students 
of the engineering department of the University of 
Cincinnati; by inducing the Y. M. C. A. in Cleveland 
to provide instruction to boys whom the society aided 
and gave opportunity to attend classes; by cooperat- 
ing with the National Association for the Promotion 
of Industrial Education; by stimulating and aiding 
technical schools in several cities to instruct their 
apprentices. This union of efforts concentrates re- 
sources and at the same time diffuses the ideas of the 
foremost leaders and specialists. Profit-sharing and 
bonus schemes are carefully studied; safety appli- 

2U 



Citizens in Industry 



ances, shop hygiene and instruction of workmen in 
methods of preventing injuries, and compensation 
laws, have all been made the subject of discussion 
and action.^ 

The National Association of Manufacturers is a 
strong ally of the movements for continuation 
schools, a modern apprenticeship system, trade 
schools and compulsory education during adoles- 
cence, more effective truancy laws, training of teach- 
ers for industrial practice, shop and part-time 
schools and centers of vocational guidance. 

The Association of Cooperative Schools aims to 
improve the instruction in schools for the employees 
of corporations. It has been asserted that already 
the movement has secured the cooperation of com- 
panies representing a capital of more than two bil- 
lion dollars, and employing 230,000 persons.^ The 
corporations have discovered that they cannot find 
mechanics, clerks and salesmen ready-made, and that 
all can be improved by education. They welcome the 
disposition of public high schools, colleges, techni- 
cal schools and universities to cooperate with the 
business world; but they see that if they are 
to receive returns for their investments they must 
have some direct control of the methods em- 
ployed. 

The commercial bias is not seldom seen in the 
tendency to emphasize the purely technical training 

^Robert Wuest: Article, Annals of American Academy, 
Nov., 1 91 2, y6 ff. 
2 The Dodge Idea, July, 1913. 
212 



Education and Culture 



required by the process of the particular establish- 
ment. 

But it is interesting to notice in the curriculum of 
a salesmen's school such topics as the value of right 
thinking, courtesy, what to learn, hygiene, elements 
of psychology, policies and organizations of the 
company. 

Advocates of ^'Scientific Managemenf^ seek to 
demonstrate the value of their methods in relation 
to that education which leads to advancement in the 
craft. The word ^'education" is used, apparently, 
as a synonym for vocational training, and sometimes 
connotes a rather narrow conception of education. 
This would do little harm if the other and larger 
elements were not ignored or kept in the distant back- 
ground. The zealous advocates of the recently an- 
nounced ^'science'' of management owe it to the 
world to make clear that they use the word in a very 
limited meaning; and this they have not always been 
careful to do. This criticism does not touch the 
really valuable service rendered by the new and 
brilliant school which has, within its sphere, already 
accomplished marvelous results. It has made the 
world its debtor by applying the precise and exact 
methods of scientific minds to the shop, by provid- 
ing textbooks and instruction cards which substitute 
measured and clear descriptions for guesswork, and 
by sending into the factories and mills teachers rather 
than bosses. They deserve all praise (and good 
pay) for transforming the work-place from a slave 
pen into a school, where self-respecting workers take 

213 



Citizens in Industry 



part in the intellectual life and help to apply the 
principles of chemistry, physics and biology to the 
manufacture of desirable commodities. As one has 
said:^ the workman ''finds that the engineer in 
charge is wholly ready to talk and explain the work 
that is going on, glad to receive and use suggestions 
and wholly ready to recognize the practical value 
of the thought of men who have been working on a 
given type of work for years. He finds, moreover, 
that these engineers are proceeding on certain basic 
principles, that they are working to apply to industry 
the best that science has accomplished, and that they 
use the best modern scientific methods in discovering 
the unknown in industry. There, generally for the 
first time, the worker meets the open mind of sci- 
ence, which refers all questions primarily to col- 
lected, correlated and recorded fact instead of to 
any manV guess or theory." The entire procedure 
is educational in form and spirit. Clear instructions, 
illustrated by photographs, blue-prints, drawings, 
take the place of hasty and noisy commands of an 
untaught foreman, who is sometimes too vociferous 
to be understood. "The old foreman was a com- 
mander and a driver. The functional foreman of 
scientific management is a teacher and cooperator. 
The old foreman ordered. The new functional fore- 
man teaches, clears the path, and shows the way. 
Many qualities are desirable in a functional fore- 
man, but these things are absolutely essential : power 

^ Hollis Godfrey, Sc.D., Consulting Engineer, in Annals 
American Academy, Nov., 1912, 59 ff. 



Education and Culture 



to do and do well any task or lesson given to a 
worker; power to express to the worker the best way 
of doing a task; and willingness to cooperate with 
the worker in working out the accomplishment of a 
task." 

Testing Vocational Ability in Actual Practice. — 
It has been found that the psychological tests of the 
laboratory, even in expert hands, are inadequate 
and must be supplemented by study of the home, the 
associations, the activities of the subject In all rela- 
tions and situations. A precocious boy may fail in 
the handling of tools, while an apparently dull child 
may be mentally awakened when he turns from 
books and the passive conditions of a schoolroom to 
the occupations of garden or forge. Furthermore, 
success depends on many factors which cannot be 
measured with instruments of precision but are re- 
vealed in prolonged observation of conduct. Perse- 
verance, fidelity, willingness to take orders, punctu- 
ality and honesty are not easily discovered. Staying 
power, the long breath of the distance runner, can be 
found out with certainty only at the end of months 
of trial ; and the boy who is victor in a short run may 
be defeated in a race which requires prolonged exer- 
tion. 

How Young Workers Change Tasks. — Miss 
Anne Herkner of the Maryland bureau of labor hit 
upon one essential weakness of the existing system 
of labor as applied to juveniles. She observed in 
her testimony before the federal industrial relations 
commission that 1,400 children had changed their 

215 



Citizens In Industry 



positions in Maryland since January, of whom only 
200 had found new places within a week. A great 
many, of course, found work again only after several 
weeks or several months. This is typical of the con- 
ditions in which untrained children of fourteen to 
eighteen years find themselves. Instability marks 
their every move. They are not contented long 
in any work. Their interest is not in it. They are 
moved chiefly by the possibility of getting a dollar 
or two a week more in some other job. Permanency 
has no place in their thoughts. They are following 
no definite plan or aim. Life becomes for them 
merely a hunt for jobs interspersed by an occasional 
period of work in some more or less uncongenial 
occupation. As Miss Herkner remarked, juvenile 
employment must be steady if children are not to 
lose their respect for work and if they are to ac- 
quire sWadiness of character. The prospects for 
this shifting population of juvenile workers, then, 
are not bright. Evidently, lest their numbers be 
added to materially each year, a system of voca- 
tional education must be generally adopted. Only 
in this way is the interest of the young worker to 
be gained and his efforts turned in a definite, pur- 
poseful direction that promotes useful services and 
good citizenship. 

One of the advantages of the best plans of trade 
training under broadminded instructors in shops is 
personal adaptation to the inevitable fluctuations in 
demand for specific kinds of labor, fluctuations 
which increase enormously the amount of involun- 

2l6 



Education and Culture 



tary seasonal unemployment in the land. The point 
is clearly stated by Dr. Godfrey: ^'One of the great- 
est barriers to permanency of employment is the un- 
evenness of work in different departments of a fac- 
tory at different periods of the year, a condition es- 
pecially evident in those factories dealing with a 
seasonal trade. One month departments A and B 
are rushed and the men in departments C and D are 
laid off. The next month the case is reversed and 
the men are laid off in departments A and B, while 
the work is rushed in departments C and D. The 
science of management by its studies of the relation 
of sales to types of product, by its increase of pro- 
duction and by its general advances in the conduct of 
industry, tends to do away with this condition, but 
it also works specifically against this state of affairs 
by offering education along the lines of work in de- 
partments C and D and vice versa, enabling them to 
gain such mastery of different parts of their trade 
as shall give them permanent employment in differ- 
ent departments and paying them higher wages for 
each educational advance." 

If to this is added a bureau of registration of 
employees, so that numbers of the regular staff are 
first chosen for the vacant places when demand is 
greatest, the security of employment is greatly en- 
hanced. 

LIBERAL CULTURE 

It is reasonable to expect that when the more di- 
rectly technical training has been imparted and be- 

217 



citizens in Industry 



come a matter of routine, habit, and automatic cere- 
bration, a demand will be felt for liberal cul- 
ture in the sciences and humanities. Even if atten- 
tion must be focused on efficiency and profits in the 
narrow sense, the springs of deeper human needs 
will assert themselves, and corporation managers 
will see it to their advantage to satisfy the hunger 
of the better nature. It is impossible to foretell, 
in advance of experience, what is '^practical" and 
what will best promote *^efficiency." One psycho- 
logical fact ought to be clear by this time that a 
wooden puppet cannot do the work of a man who 
is alive to his finger-tips and whose entire mental 
and moral power is creatively asserted in all he does. 
The philosophy of the '^One-Hoss Shay" is not obso- 
lete: '^the weakest spot must stand the strain"; and 
we must ^^make that spot as strong as the rest." 

Instruction in Housekeeping. — The public schools 
do not always give training to girls in the art of 
home-making, and girls who have gone into factories 
to earn a living are not by that experience prepared 
for their duties as wives and mothers. The imme- 
diate pecuniary interest of the employers in giving 
this form of instruction is not very obvious at first 
sight; but thoughtful managers, in Europe and 
America, have discovered that there is a close con- 
nection between well-ordered homes and the effi- 
ciency of the men. Employed girls of sixteen will in 
two or three years be home-makers for the young 
men of the works. By taking a large view of the 
permanent and community interests they have been 

2ia 



Education and Culture 



led to maintain housekeeping schools of various 
forms. In the better schools the Instruction of the 
girls is given during working hours and without de- 
ductions from wages. Instruction is free. In other 
situations the classes are held in the evening. Among 
the subjects taught are : mending and crocheting, sew- 
ing, cutting garments, cooking, making beds. The 
care of infants and young children ought to be taught 
the older girls and a technique has already been 
worked out for this vital branch of instruction. 

Boys' Gardens, — The art of gardening is inter- 
esting to many boys, but in cities they cannot provide 
land, tools and instruction. Manufacturers have no 
direct interest, as manufacturers, in providing and 
maintaining schools for communicating this art, but 
as citizens caring for the wholesome conditions about 
their works they are often willing to contribute for 
the purpose. The lads under a good leader are dis- 
ciplined in promptness, industry, neatness, workman- 
ship, courtesy, cooperation, and the material earn- 
ings may become a motive to perseverance. With 
the right kind of a teacher the industry becomes an 
introduction to the principles of the science of life. 
Not infrequently acquaintance with gardening opens 
a congenial and lucrative profession under the whole- 
some conditions of rural residence. 

Perhaps, since manufacturers live literally in glass 
houses, they may find their reward in giving the boys 
something better to do than break windows, and 
destroy property. When each boy is allotted his own 
plot of ground and given the product he learns to 

219 



Citizens in Industry 



respect private property; any latent communistic 
quitch in him is weeded out by the practice of gar- 
dening. If the boys are taught to form a stock 
company, ^Vith limited liability/' they elect their 
own directors and officers and thus are initiated into 
the mysteries of the great business. With the gar- 
dens may be connected shops for making window- 
boxes, repairing tools, etc. Useful occupation is 
even better than games to keep young people out of 
mischief, and turn them from hooliganism to good 
citizenship. 

Landscape Gardening, — ^The cultivation of flow- 
ers, vines, shrubs, trees, and vegetables develops the 
esthetic capacities of human beings. Certain heads 
of industrial establishments have not only set a good 
example by beautifying the grounds of the work- 
place, but have stimulated and guided the efforts of 
neighbor^ and employees by giving out seeds and 
bulbs with directions for planting and care, and by 
offering prizes for those who succeed best. 

Culture for Adults, — It is sometimes claimed that 
workmen want wages, not entertainments and cul- 
ture; that they prefer to find their own ways of 
happiness. But there are numerous situations in 
which workmen cannot organize their own cultural 
opportunities and must live a starved mental life or 
be content with cheap and mean entertainments fur- 
nished on a mercenary basis. There are employers 
who recognize their responsibility as permanent and 
influential personages in the community, and who see 
that intellectual alertness and joyful disposition of 

220 



Education and Culture 



the employees are assets. Under such conditions a 
reasonable provision for spiritual satisfactions may 
be not only a community duty but a paying invest- 
ment. While the coming democracy is on the way 
the masters on the ground must do their duty. The 
patriarchal element of civilization which we have 
inherited through no fault of our own has not yet 
evaporated and as yet no complete substitute has 
been found. 

Culture: An Illustration. — Van Marken in Hol- 
land began by building lOO picturesque cottages with 
small gardens attached, because otherwise no proper 
shelter was available near the works. Kindergar- 
tens and schools were needed and supplied, and the 
children were encouraged by prizes to do good work. 
The people needed a hall for assemblies and one ac- 
commodating 1200 persons was built. The cultiva- 
tion of flowers, one of the most economical and sat- 
isfactory forms of esthetic enjoyment, was promoted 
by flower shows in summer. Band concerts were 
heard three times a week in winter. Dances, lec- 
tures, social gatherings, games, stereopticon lan- 
terns and slides added to the gayety of the community 
and helped to keep alive friendship and neighborli- 
ness. In the gymnasium, which was thoroughly 
equipped, the young people were trained for the 
sports and contests which furnished delight in the 
village festivals, with exhibitions of skill in archery, 
bowls, skating and fencing. The playgrounds, ad- 
joining the community house, furnished with swings, 
teeters, merry-go-rounds and sand piles made the 

221 



Citizens in Industry 



children happy. Even in rainy weather they could 
play in the wholesome open air under a pavilion. 

Art for Money^s Sake. — The advantages of train- 
ing young people for industrial life are thus out- 
lined in the British Trade Review: 

"In view of the foreign competition and the de- 
termination of capitalists abroad to extend their 
manufactures, it is of the utmost importance that 
British producers should do all they can to perfect 
their industries in every way, to be in a position to 
place the best and the most useful goods on the mar- 
ket. Experts in the cotton industry are realizing 
that special attention should be given to the highest 
branches of production, especially to the printing, 
dyeing and weaving of fancy fabrics, which command 
very extensive markets. It is recognized that if we 
are to k^ep our trade in these departments both man- 
ufacturers and workers must be qualified to send out 
from the mills and weaving sheds fabrics of the most 
original design, beautiful in texture and sterling in 
workmanship. The need for continual progress in 
output does not, of course, apply to the cotton in- 
dustry alone. It is conspicuous daily in engineering 
and numerous other branches, and the question of 
training in these various trades has become para- 
mount. 

**It is, therefore, gratifying to note that manufac- 
turers are beginning to take an interest in the young 
before they enter the works, and suggesting that 
the brightest and most intellectual should be sifted 
out from the army of school children, for industrial 

222 



Education and Culture 



training. Many scholars show their inclination for 
particular work before they leave school, and also 
ambition to succeed in special occupations ; and if they 
were given opportunity to get into the right groove, 
production and trade would undoubtedly benefit. 
The shop surroundings may be made beautiful. • • . 
The President of the Bethlehem steel works was 
jokingly asked by a visitor who was delighted with 
the gardens, whether they were making steel or rais- 
ing flowers, and he answered: *We are primarily 
engaged in making steel; but we make better steel 
and more of it by also raising flowers and having 
them in our yard.' The love for beautiful spaces 
adorned with color, once awakened, extends to the 
homes of the men. The production of commodities 
depends on energy and endurance; energy is sup- 
plied by digested food; digestion is promoted by at- 
tractive surroundings; therefore the planting of 
flowers is a factor in efficiency, even in the making of 
coarse wares." 

It is easy to assert that wage-earners do not want 
such facilities supplied and will not use them; but 
the assertion is not in all circumstances true. 

Reading-rooms, — Men to whom reading is a dif- 
ficult art, with meager returns in satisfaction, must 
be helped to -find pleasure in it; then they have dis- 
covered a gold-mine of happiness. The lower class 
of newspapers appeal to the tired, jaded, half-illiter- 
ate crowd, with strong sensations, grotesque pic- 
tures, stories of murders, divorce scandals, wrongs 
of the rich, pink paper and great staring black head- 

223 



Citizens in Industry 



lines suggesting explosions and catastrophes. These 
journals have a pedagogic theory and a social pur- 
pose which they are ready to explain: men of few 
and primitive desires are intellectually asleep ; noth- 
ing short of thunder, lightning and earthquake will 
rouse them; and so the sensational journal becomes 
'^yellow'^; its odor and taste remind us of cheese 
which is disgusting to refined organs but gives a sen- 
sation of being alive to the dull and sordid. There 
is just enough of sound psychology and pedagogy in 
this plea to make it plausible; of course the real mo- 
tive is profit; it pays. If ever these weary and dull 
men are actually improved and enriched in the higher 
life, redeemed from mere animalism, sensational 
journalism will not lift them high nor carry them 
far. 

The better principle is this : good literature, mu- 
sic, pictures must be brought near to the untaught 
workers, must be attractive and enticing to them, 
not merely to us. Books and magazines will appeal 
to a few; moving pictures are alluring to all of us. 

We do not want histories of art works, dull com- 
mentaries in hard technical cant, but the works of 
imagination themselves presented to eye or ear by 
intelligent and living interpreters. In the great 
dramatists and novelists there are vast treasures of 
imaginative wealth which are concealed in forbidding 
books, and await the genial interpretation of read- 
ers whose pleasant voices, distinct articulation, play 
of mobile features and occasional gesture enable the 
common man to sit at the banquet prepared by ge- 

224 



Education and Culture 



nius. We do not need costly singers and actors so 
much as many cultivated readers who really enjoy 
the works of genius. 

A motto of the reading-rooms of the Santa Fe 
Railway is worth quoting: **Give a man a bath, a 
book and an entertainment that appeals to his mind, 
and you have enlarged, extended and advanced his 
life ; and, as he becomes more faithful to himself, he 
is more valuable to the company." *'It is not a char- 
ity concern, but a business proposition." Generally 
the reading-rooms of this corporation are at points 
where the men must wait long turns in idleness; in 
a few cities, *'on the theory that, the better the 
people in any Santa Fe town, the safer was our 
property, and more business for the line would be 
developed. Garnishment for gambling debts is a 
thing of the past. One general superintendent re- 
ports that the reading-rooms constitute the best pro- 
hibitory system of temperance in the world, beating 
Kansas and Maine." 

Settlements in the neighborhood of a great mill 
or factory frequently minister to the scientific and 
esthetic desires of the employees, and for a modest 
subsidy from managers furnish valuable services at 
low cost. But it is better to let them starve than 
to bribe the residents to be mummies, mere pets of 
the corporation and dull lackeys without sympathy 
with the aspirations of the wage-earners. 

Neighborhood improvement associations^ in which 
educated men and women unite in democratic fash- 
ion with the people, may justly claim support on the 

225 



Citizens in Industry 



principles already accepted. In these cases it is not 
a question of philanthropy in any narrow and sinis- 
ter sense, but of good citizenship and obligation to 
the whole community. Not seldom a wealthy cor- 
poration will accept the self-denying and unpaid 
service of persons of public spirit and be reluctant 
to give them the slightest recognition, or assistance, 
even grumbling at times under breath at their ^'so- 
cialism^' or '^anarchistic fads'' and ^'academic theo- 
ries." This makes bad blood. 

Revival of University Extension^ with Better 
Methods. — If business men desire to assist the more 
intelligent employees to gratify their intellectual am- 
bitions in the fields of history, literature and science, 
their most natural alliance is with the universities. 
Here is a highly organized system of instruction, 
conducted by specialists, with the best professional 
standards, with which no other agencies can compete. 
These universities are either endowed or are con- 
ducted by the states. The present regular profes- 
sors could rarely do personally much of the actual 
work of classes and lectures ; their strength is already 
mortgaged to their special duties, and most of them 
have had no special preparation for popular instruc- 
tion. They have, however, under this instruction a 
large number of graduate students, some of whom, 
with proper native gifts, could be selected and trained 
for this popular work of education. The lecture 
method alone is not satisfactory. In teaching nat- 
ural science there must be small laboratory classes. 
Historical, literary and artistic subjects require the 

226 



Education and Culture 



aid of lantern slides and other means of visualizing 
the subject. Music at the meetings should give zest 
and rest to the spirit. 

The universities have very inadequate funds for 
this new and yet undeveloped department of '^exten- 
sion" and many of the schemes have broken down 
for this reason. By an alliance with benefit associa- 
tions and generous employers, instruction and even 
recreation could be furnished at lowest cost and 
with highest standards. Gradually teachers would 
be selected who have the natural genius for this 
kind of educational service. A word of caution and 
warning is in place. The votaries of science are 
accustomed to pursue truth without regard to special 
interests, and to present all aspects in the spirit of 
the investigator. Such men are apt to say things 
which arouse the ire of those who are unwilling 
to have anything said with which they do not agree. 
They would not object to lectures interpreting 
Browning's **Ring and the Book,'' but they might 
explode if the principle of collective bargaining 
were explained with historical illustrations. We 
have known of teachers of social science being 
**fired" under these circumstances in a way not cred- 
itable to those who imagine that a money payment 
for salary or lecture fee means the purchase of a 
soul. 

This caution should be heeded also by the teacher, 
whose function is not that of the advocate who holds 
a brief for a Htigant and is hired to present only 
one side of the case, but he ought to reveal the 

227 



Citizens in Industry 



whole situation as fully and fairly as he can do it 
and leave the judgment to the public. 

The object of '^university extension" is not pro- 
fessional learning, as preparation for law, medicine, 
or bridge-building; nor, on the other side, is it 
merely momentary entertainment; for these legiti- 
mate ends other means ought to be provided. The 
object of the university extension method is to make 
it possible for busy people in various callings to 
gain an educated man's view of the world, of life, 
of science, of history, of evolution, of art, of phil- 
osophy, and religion. 

Naturally the number of clerks and workingmen 
at present who would care for this kind of culture 
at first will be small; but it would grow. Here is a 
case where supply calls forth demand. Thomas' 
Orchestra started with a small audience, but after a 
lifetime W faithful adherence to a lofty standard of 
noble music the great leader awakened a sense of 
appreciation of the best compositions in hundreds of 
thousands of people. 

We must not give superficial instruction; it can 
be made fundamental and profound. Who can ex- 
plain the popular and genuine interest in Darwinism 
and Marxism on the theory that workmen are stupid 
and narrow? One of the best masters of Herbert 
Spencer in the writer's acquaintance was a machinist, 
who also bought a telescope and pursued astronom- 
ical studies after he was seventy years of age. Back 
of the fragmentary and disconnected news items of 
the daily papers the workingmen need to have a 

228 



Education and Culture 



general view of the evolution of human society, the 
principles of ethics and economics, the essentials of 
educational aims and methods. 

If we are to have wise and upright local govern- 
ment, we must have at least cultivated leaders 
among the workmen in our shops and mines. 

An alliance of welfare associations with the uni- 
versities would be fruitful for good citizenship; the 
entire community would have the benefit; and the 
professors would profit most of all by the contact 
with the life of the people. The young teacher of 
economics who gets a chance to lecture on his sub- 
ject before a trade union may have a surprise in 
store for him; he will find that whatever kind of 
coat or academic gown he wears he must be pre- 
pared to answer keen and generally caustic ques- 
tions. 

Indeed the discussion which a lecture provokes 
has more educational value than the learned '*pre- 
liminary item." 

The agricultural schools have shown that plain 
farmers can understand the principles of biology 
and apply them with intelligence. A similar work 
for mechanics carried out persistently by strong 
teachers with a popular gift of exposition would 
discover equal ability and appreciation among them. 
Sir Humphry Davy and Huxley were not ashamed 
to give popular lectures on science. 

Dramatic Entertainment, — The life of any indi- 
vidual has a good deal of monotonous routine and 
repetition and therefore becomes stale. It is not 

229 



Citizens in Industry 



surprising that many youths take to the changeful 
ways of the tramp, hard as his lot is when the winter 
pinches. Josiah Flynt's **Tramping with Tramps" 
discloses the attractions of the road, the green fields, 
the campfire, the constant change of scene, and even 
an occasional risk of danger and taste of hunger. 
Responsible family men, rooted to a place by the 
care of the household and the claims of children, 
sometimes feel this call of the wide, wide world and 
desire to travel. But travel costs money and time 
beyond the means of wage-earners, and so the crav- 
ing for new scenes and experiences must be denied 
satisfaction.^ 

It is the merit of the drama that it enables a 
person to live imaginatively and sympathetically a 
thousand lives, one after the other. The genius of 
Shakespeare and many inferior artists have staged 
the careers of kings and poets, of fools and philoso- 
phers, of common folk and great personages, and 
the actors interpret these representations until we 
seem to enter into the lives of other men thus exhib- 
ited in action. The great popularity of the moving- 
picture shows is a revelation of this deep universal 
need of variety; but taste is not yet standardized, 
commercial interests dominate, and the educational 
values are low. 

When a large body of employees live closely to- 
gether and isolated from the city, the managers 
alone may be able to organize dramatic entertain- 
ments. In Osaka, Japan, the proprietors of a great 

* See Prof. Natorp ; Die Erziehung des Volkes, p. 8. 
230 



Education and Culture 



textile mill have built a theater on their grounds and 
furnish plays which afford refined and ennobling 
recreation.^ 

Music— The people are capable of enjoying good 
music. Masterpieces have utilized the songs of the 
common folk as foundations for noblest classic mel- 
odies and harmonies. The workmen in Wales, in 
English and German cities, have not only listened 
with appreciation to oratorios but they have inter- 
preted them worthily in chorus singing. It is true 
that much popular music is debasing and that very 
complex compositions are wearisome to the multi- 
tude; but there is a rich collection of classic com- 
positions which give repose without enervation, 
which inspire and unite, and raise the spirits of men 
to a finer world. A celebrated and competent critic, 
Professor Stumpf of Berlin, mentions here works 
of Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, 
Schubert, Weber, Mendelssohn, Max Bruch, Schu- 
mann, Franz, Loewe, Brahms and even a few of 
Richard Wagner's pieces (Ride of the Valkiiries, 

^Read Goethe's Conversations with Eckermann, cited by 
von Ebart in Die Erziehung des Volkes, p. 104: 

"Stande ich noch an der Spitze der Theaterleitung, ich 
wiirde jetzt zum Besten der Kasse noch einen Schritt weiter 
gehen, und Ihr solltet erfahren, dass wir das notige Geld 
nicht ansbliebe. Ich wiirde auch die Sonntage spielen lassen. 
Die grosse arbeitende Klasse die an den Wochentagen 
gewohnlich bis spat in die Nacht beschaftigt ist, hat den 
Sonntag als einzigen Erholungstag, wo sie dann das edlere 
Vergniigen des Schauspiels dem Tanz und Bier in einer 
Dorf schenke sicher vorziehen wiirde '^ 

231. 



Citizens In Industry 



the Entrance of the Gods into Valhalla) as making 
an appeal to the workers. 

Stumpf urges, as a practical measure, that the 
tickets to such concerts must be very low in price 
(8 to ID cents), that the arrangements should be 
made by a committee of workmen and artists to- 
gether, that the tickets should be offered and sold 
by the employees and not sold in public offices, so 
that the audience will be made up of genuine wage- 
earners, and not of parsimonious persons who want 
to buy fine music at low cost. 

Experience has shown that workmen have the 
desire to cultivate their inborn capacity for esthetic 
enjoyment, and that they will welcome and appre- 
ciate honest efforts to smooth their way into the 
magic world of beauty. There is no essential dif- 
ferencq in the capacity for impressions, and there- 
fore the^ selection of examples of art must not be 
made on the theory that we are dealing with per- 
sons of inferior nature. The power to enjoy art is 
most surely awakened and cultivated by original 
works, as those of great painters and sculptors; 
copies and models are to be used with lectures only 
in a secondary way. The history of art is not attrac- 
tive until the esthetic sense has first been quickened 
by contact with art works. A competent and enthusi- 
astic teacher will induce habits of observation and 
direct the judgment; and for this purpose a few 
examples carefully studied are better than a great 
number. In the United States the subjects of pic- 
tures may well be chosen in such a way as to meet 

232 



Education and Culture 



the needs of our mixed population. Parties may be 
formed to visit, under a capable guide, the munici- 
pal collections which are being formed In all cities 
of any pretension to progress and enterprise. Pho- 
tographs and plastic casts may be used when origi- 
nals are not available. Beautiful objects In nature 
should be studied — flowers, trees, clouds, landscapes, 
insects, birds ; amateur photography may be encour- 
aged, and drawing, especially painting in color.^ 

^ See Dr. Lichtwart in Die Erziehung des Volkes. 

John Ruskin's works have interpreted this world of beauty 
to the English-speaking peoples. 

Valuable hints are given by Benjamin Ives Gilman, Sec. 
of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Mass., in Report of 
the Commissioner of Education, 1913, 277 ff. 



CHAPTER VII 

EXPERIMENTS IN INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY 

During the nineteenth century, in Europe, Amer- 
ica, and even in Asia, the wage-earning opera- 
tives have gradually won greater legal rights of 
security, protection and comfort. They have 
also gained recognition of their right to vote 
and hold office, until now it is quite certain 
that under constitutional governments each man's 
vote must count for one, without regard to title, 
rank or wealth. This right has been won with 
great atfficulty, by persistent and sometimes fierce 
agitation, or even through revolution and blood- 
shed; but it is now embodied in constitutions and 
judicial decisions, beyond recall or revision. An- 
tagonism lingers only in the form of senile grum- 
bling of toothless privileged persons about the 
*'good old days." The fundamental reason which 
has been decisive in this victory of popular suffrage 
has been that no class of men could be trusted to 
protect the interests of another class. This is 
the verdict of history. Benevolent despotism is 
still despotism, and is always subject to suspicion. 

It was inevitable that this argument drawn from 
political experience should some day be used in re- 

234 



Experiments in Democracy 

gard to the relation of employer and employees; 
and it has been used with convincing effect and ex- 
plains a great deal which would otherwise seem 
unreasonable in certain rules and actions of trade 
unions. Socialism has had a wonderful growth in 
all modern countries, and its fundamental demand is 
that the operatives should have something to say in 
regard to those matters which affect their health, 
their livelihood, and all their hopes of advance. 
Their plea has been successful with millions of vot- 
ers, because anyone can see that the ballot opens a 
way to securing a voice in business affairs which 
the ordinary shop organization excludes. 

The trade unions are concerned about labor con- 
tracts which raise wages, shorten hours and improve 
shop conditions; but this is not the deepest motive 
in their desire to promote collective bargaining; 
they want more than all else a voice in the direction 
of the business because it affects them in every way; 
and because they know or instinctively feel that self- 
government is the only just government. 

This is not the place to repeat the familiar argu- 
ments for and against this tendency of modern work- 
ing people, both men and women. It seems revo- 
lutionary to men who are not ready to introduce 
democracy into the industrial order because they 
do not understand the modern movement. The dif- 
ficulties in the way of public management of indus- 
try and commerce are certainly very serious; and 
it would be difficult to imagine what would happen 
at present if great corporations or even small indus- 

235 



Citizens in Industry 



tries were at once managed by committees repre- 
senting the employees and the public as well as the 
owners of capital. The complete realization of the 
democratic aspiration In Industry must wait on more 
general education, self-control, skill and ability than 
are at present visible. If the worklngmen were now 
to select the managers of Industry by vote they would 
elect the same men who are now directors, or they 
would ruin the Industries. Selection by competition 
would In either case be necessary to place the man- 
agement In the most competent hands. 

But meantime this aspiration Is a social fact to be 
counted with, and any fair-minded person must ad- 
mit that It Is not wholly unworthy and foolish; It Is 
the natural result of progress. Indeed one will find 
that already many able capitalist managers have at 
least dimly recognized the Inherent justice of the 
reasoning and taken pains to foster a better under- 
standing. The acceptance of boards of conciliation 
and arbitration In different countries Is one example 
of a tendency the logic and final Issue of which will 
go further than anyone can now foresee. The social 
insurance committees, in which representatives of 
employers and operatives come together to discuss 
and decide questions of common Interest, not only 
partly satisfy the democratic aspirations of working 
people but contain a prophetic element of great sig- 
nificance. They also serve to give wage-earners 
some experience in financial matters which prepares 
them for understanding the perplexing problems of 
the directors' room, the bank, and the boards of 

236 



Experiments in Democracy 

trade. The cooperative movement in Europe is 
still more helpful in training the multitudes in busi- 
ness principles. 

This conclusion is occasionally recognized by 
leaders of commerce. Thus Mr. Frank Vanderlip, 
in an address to the New York Bankers' Associa- 
tion (1914), said: 

'^Legislation in accordance with sound economic 
principles, formulated with justice and sincere sym- 
pathy, is what we should all be striving for. I be- 
lieve if business men will get themselves into a state 
of mind where they view conditions broadly, with an 
historical and social sense rather than only from 
their individual point of view, they will apprehend 
better the direction in which the whole current of 
political thought is flowing, and will feel less impa- 
tience with this legislative movement and vastly less 
pessimism concerning its results. It seems to me 
time that we recognized and caught step with this 
wider spirit, and then endeavor to direct the move- 
ments which it has set in motion rather than to ob- 
struct its expression, which finds a form in new or 
proposed legislation." 

Under universal suffrage there can be no doubt 
of the power of the wage-earners to secure control, 
or at least a voice in the management of business ; 
they may decide some day to exercise this political 
power. The chief social problem is that of educa- 
tional preparation for this perilous opportunity. All 
those methods of establishments which involve dis- 
cussion of business matters are therefore part of 

237 



Citizens in Industry 



this preparation on which the very existence of the 
nation may some day depend. The policy of silence, 
secret bribery, concealment and confusion cannot in 
the long run be the wisest and safest. Democracy 
wills to be taken into the confidence of those who 
manipulate the forces of industry and commerce. 

Representation in Management, — Beginnings of 
experiments of admitting employees to voice and 
practice in management have already attracted 
attention. 

An interesting type is the following:^ In 1875 ^ 
''labor chamber" was organized, in which engineers, 
chief clerks and foremen formed a consultative 
body. The plan was modified in 1895 and became a 
**labor parliament" with three houses: (i) twelve 
members from the managers, engineers and chief 
clerks; (2) eight members from the foremen and 
clerks; \^) sixteen of lower rank. The first house 
meets quarterly, the second monthly, and the third 
semi-monthly. A united committee is formed, with 
four branches, for recreation, education, finance and 
furtherance of material interests. The branch on 
'material interests attends to provision for foodstuffs 
and clothing of good quality and low price, through 
the village cooperative stores; acts as a council on 
the best use of thrift funds; explains the regula- 
tions to prevent accidents in the factory, and gives 
advice about hygiene and sanitation in homes. The 
recreative branch has subcommittees on musical edu- 

^ W. H. Tolman : Description of J. C. Van Marken, 
Agenta Park, Holland. World's Work, Mar., 1902. 

238 



Experiments In Democracy 

cation and concerts, choral society, gymnastics, skat- 
ing and rowing, bicycling, stereopticon entertain- 
ments, lectures, dancing, home recreation, recep- 
tions, factory holidays, skittles, archery, billiards, 
Agenta Park and travel clubs. It is true that none 
of these elements involves the essential control of 
the capital invested or the direction of the tech- 
nical and commercial sides of the business ; but they 
are matters which closely touch the personal inter- 
ests of the •employees and the organization recog- 
nizes the dignity and self-respect of the workmen. 

The huilding and loan associations of the United 
States, so far as they represent genuine organiza- 
tions of wage-earners, are among the most signifi- 
cant business enterprises based on the cooperative 
principle. They have trained men to think in terms 
of large figures and long terms, to comprehend the 
phenomena of capital, interest and profit, to feel 
personally the value of mental labor in direction and 
management. Their very mistakes and losses have 
been instructive and helped men to see that the busi- 
ness man has not a bed of roses. Wherever success- 
ful managers of industry have stimulated and encour- 
aged these associations, without too much of inter- 
ference, they have promoted the education of the 
people for a share in government. 

The Cooperative: The Rochdale Plan, and Its 
Value for Training in Citizenship} — In connection 
with some large corporations '^societies of consum- 
ers" have been formed for the purchase of supplies 
^ Fay : Co-operation at Home and Abroad. 

239 



Citizens in Industry 



for the households. Some of the essential condi- 
tions of success are that sales shall be for cash and 
the losses of credit be eliminated; usually the con- 
sumer calls for the goods and carries them home, 
to cut out the cost of delivery; the prices paid are 
those of the market; the profits are divided among 
the purchasers in the ratio of the amount bought 
during the year; capital invested is paid only a low 
rate of interest. The educational and political value 
of the association lies in the experience it gives of 
the principles of business and the conditions of suc- 
cessful self-government. If ever the people are to 
be prepared for a larger direct control of business 
it will be in some such way as this, and not merely 
by listening to lectures of teachers and to the pas- 
sionate and disjointed harangues of demagogues. 

Education in Political Science, — True science is 
impersonal and impartial; it knows no partisan in- 
terest; it includes all the pertinent and significant 
facts. Already employers have established numer- 
ous schools on both sides of the Atlantic. Natu- 
rally, as we have already seen, the industrial eflJ- 
ciency motive has given character to those organiza- 
tions, because that is the primary object for both 
partners in the process of production. But it is not 
enough. 

More than once in recent years bankers and other 
business leaders have been alarmed by the preva- 
lence of what they regarded as dangerous popular 
heresies in relation to money, banking, currency and 
tariff. They could readily see that it was a vital 

5^40 



Experiments In Democracy 

concern of business to turn the minds of the voters 
in the right direction. In other words, they were 
compelled to go back of legislators, congressmen, 
senators and even newspapers to appeal to the 
farmers, retail dealers and mechanics. And they 
found that these plain people could understand 
when a great statesman like Carl Schurz addressed 
them in the clear style of exposition of which he 
was master. 

It Is probably true that workingmen have given 
heed to falsehoods and have been deceived in regard 
to high tariffs and taxation schemes. But that is 
also true of men of highest educational advantages; 
it Is one of the most Insidious perils of popular 
government. Stuffing ballot boxes Is a rude and 
clumsy device as compared with the cunning argu- 
ment which persuades a wage-earner to vote for a 
scheme which will inevitably cut his loaf in half and 
compel him to wear a seedy overcoat two more 
winters. 

Mistakes will happen; but they grow rarer with 
discussion. Running water will at last purify Itself. 
Continue the give-and-take process long enough and 
the truth emerges out of the clouds, and the shrewd- 
est deceivers are dragged Into light and pilloried, 
stripped of masks. Lincoln's confidence In the good 
sense of an Instructed people was justified by history. 
When Gladstone went wrong, the textile workers of 
English cities, though starving, saw and defended 
the truth, in regard to our cause In the Civil War. 

The history of our economical and governmental 
241. 



Citizens in Industry 



institutions is a matter of fact, and popular knowl- 
edge of this history helps plain men to see how our 
modes of conduct have been shaped and what they 
mean. It is possible for a good teacher to help 
mechanics to understand all the phenomena of our 
industrial life, the reciprocal connections between 
the different industries and the specialized branches 
of each industry, and the function or service of each 
agent in the whole system. It is possible for a 
master of the science of administration to teach 
voters the essential principles of our federal and 
state constitutions, the fundamental rights of citi- 
zens and the methods of enforcing these rights. 

If the present responsible masters of society sin- 
cerely wish to help men to realize their personal dig- 
nity and take their places as citizens, they may find 
in these fields the opportunity for a patriotic service. 
Of course this teaching must be scientific and not 
partisan; the teacher must be free to speak his mind 
and give his reasons; and the men in the classes 
must be free to express their own views in open 
discussion. Lecturing alone is not educating; and 
if workingmen learn of books and instructors they 
must have a chance to take the initiative in discus- 
sion. Otherwise they will either absent themselves 
or they will resist the effort to treat them as mere 
passive automatons to be moved from the outside. 

Neighborhood Centers. — The modern city has 
destroyed real democracy and substituted the boss, 
partly because the government was too far away 
from the people, so distant that its inner workings 

24^ 



Experiments In Democracy 

could not be seen.^ Industrial villages, even when 
founded by capitalists, may be made schools of 
practical training in politics in the best sense, the 
science and art of community action for the general 
welfare. 

Industrial towns have been built at enormous cost 
and, surely in part at least, with unselfish intention ; 
neat, tidy, attractive, hygienic, and with moderate 
rents; and yet have sometimes brought the builder 
dislike, hatred and revolt where he expected grati- 
tude and contentment. There was one fatal mis- 
take — it was a benevolent despotism, it did not rec- 
ognize democracy, it ignored the spirit of the mod- 
ern man, it assumed that wage-earners are still at 
heart serfs. It is better to have some dirt and dis- 
ease, with community responsibility for the suffering, 
than sanitary houses governed by an absolute even if 
benevolent czar, and benevolent autocrats have been 
rare in history; absolutism hardens the conscience. 

The public schoolhouse is becoming a social cen- 
ter of genuine democracy; the common meeting- 
place where all have the same rights; where recrea- 
tion, rest, and learning have a natural home. Igno- 
rant people can be taught to want clean houses, alleys, 
and underclothing, and they can be persuaded to 
change their habits; but it must be their own act 
or it is of no moral or practical value. 

The neighborhood about a schoolhouse is a fine 
field for the practice of democratic self-government; 
and ought to be made far more significant than it 

^See Kales: Unpopular Government. 

243 



Citizens in Industry 



is. For practice in the privileges of citizenship 
propositions relating to local concerns might be sub- 
mitted to votes of initiative and referendum, and the 
results sent up as memorials or petitions to the city 
council or administrative commission with the argu- 
ments used in discussion. Later on some direct 
weight might be given to such local declarations. 

The difficulty with the present custom of trusting 
all to the elected ward councilman is that very fre- 
quently the real wishes of the people never get to 
the city hall in their purity; they are adulterated in 
the committees. An ordinary ward election is no 
adequate means of educating citizens; for the dis- 
trict is too large and the interests too diversified 
for direct discussion. There is no school of civic 
virtue. One can teach while the class is small; he 
must lecture if there is an audience ; he must harangue 
If he haVa mob. 

In the school district a man of business may be a 
real power; an employer can exercise his influence 
if he will come to the meeting with a soft hat and 
not forget his good manners and his patriotism. The 
employer, or the representatives of a corporation, 
must learn to regard their mills in relation to the 
neighborhood, and the people of the neighborhood 
as citizens, not subjects. It is a bitter lesson for a 
proud spirit to learn, but it is wholesome and neces- 
sary. It cost a bloody war and countless treasures 
to realize Lincoln's prophetic utterance: a nation 
cannot endure half slave and half free. If he were 
among us now he would say a neighborhood cannot 

244 



Experiments in Democracy 

live in peace under a lord, an exile on the soil it 
occupies with homes. Property is safe and respected 
only as people own it, and authority is honored only 
when the people share it. 

Already the people have the supreme power in 
the ballot and universal suffrage; it is a question of 
whether Demos can be educated in time to use his 
power wisely when he becomes fully conscious of it. 
Neither a man nor a people is fitted quickly for 
the responsibility of political control; nor is educa- 
tion a miracle : it is a process and a growth, and is ac- 
quired in the interaction of instruction and personal 
experience. This is what gives the neighborhood 
its national significance. 



ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF BETTERMENT 

METHODS WITHIN AN ESTABLISHMENT OR IN A 

TRADE ON A VOLUNTARY BASIS 

The fundamental principles of such organization 
taught by experience have already been discussed: 
recognition of the personal worth of the employees, 
and of their right to a hearing in all matters which 
deeply concern their happiness and well-being; free- 
dom from all assertion of superiority and arbitrary 
domination on the part of the firm; open and sin- 
cere dealings without concealment of facts essential 
to a fair judgment; manifest purpose of the firm to 
be guided by a comprehensive recognition of all in- 
terests affected, even of the surrounding community 

245 



Citizens in Industry 



of which the establishment and all its members are 
organic parts. 

There is in some very large corporations an ad- 
visory board which is composed of superintendents 
of the various plants, which may be situated in dif- 
ferent cities at a distance from each other; although 
all are dependent on one corporation. 

The evils to be combated are : ^ continual irrita- 
tion and frequent strikes on many pretexts, with loss 
of time, wages, profits, social product. In the 
sweated industries, without organization, or control, 
the conditions become chaotic; humane employers 
cannot raise wages because they are in close and 
sharp competition with others who are quick to take 
advantage of the necessities of the ignorant immi- 
grants whose extreme poverty compels them to earn 
what they can. 

The employees themselves, in such circumstances, 
are naturally suspicious, on the watch for causes of 
offense, reckless in fighting back blindly against any- 
one who represents ^'capital." Their animosity is 
made all the more bitter because they are sometimes 
under the influence of a class of Socialists who preach 
''class consciousness" and sometimes even violence. 
To the economic evils are added, especially in the 
''sweated" industries, unhygienic conditions, as 
crowding, bad ventilation, filth, danger from fire, 
improper sanitary arrangements, dangerous proxim- 

^ See Gertrude Barnum : "How Industrial Peace Has 
Been Brought About in the Clothing Trade/* Independent^ 
Oct. 3, 1912. 

246 



Experiments in Democracy 

ity and exposure of the sexes to contacts and tempta- 
tion. 

Experience has shown that in very difficult situa- 
tions at least some improvements are made possible 
by wise organization, in which the following princi- 
ples are observed: 

1. The primary organization Includes represent- 
atives of capitalist managers and the employees, on 
equal and honorable terms. 

2. The unions of the employees are recognized, 
without wasting time over the disputed theory of 
**closed shop'' versus **open shop," about which 
agreement seems at present impossible. The unions 
of the employees are recognized and respected, and 
their members have the preference when employees 
are taken on; hence the expression, '^the preferen- 
tial shop rule." Union hours and prices are ac- 
cepted, and so the results of collective bargaining 
are assured. 

3. The spirit and something of the form of ju- 
dicial procedure are seen in the constitution of the 
lower and higher "courts," in which questions in 
dispute are carefully weighed, evidence adduced, and 
decisions reached by a rational process in which all 
parties interested may be heard in calmness and 
quiet. 

The board on grievances meets at frequent and 
regular intervals, and goes over a formal calendar 
of cases as if in a civil court. If this court fails to 
agree, or there is a desire to appeal, a higher court, 
meeting only in exceptional cases on demand, is con- 

.247 



Citizens in Industry 



stituted to make final settlement. While these 
*^courts" have no public authority to enforce their 
decisions, their judgment is usually accepted by all 
parties and open conflict is averted. 

4. A joint board of sanitary control, composed 
of members representing employers, employees and 
the public, has been able to lay bare gross viola- 
tions of laws and ordinances, vicious conditions af- 
fecting health, comfort and morality, and to correct 
these evils by influence or by appeal to legal au- 
thority. 

Fire protection has been improved, after a fright- 
ful holocaust due to lawless neglect of plain legal 
requirements. Basement shops, ill lighted and ill 
ventilated, have been closed. Shops in rear rooms 
or on attic floors have been forbidden, without spe- 
cial permission, on a showing that they are not dan- 
gerous. - 

A standard of 400 cubic feet of space per person 
has been required and enforced. The rule has been 
established that the workroom must be thoroughly 
aired before and after work hours, and during lunch 
hours, by opening windows and doors. Floors of 
shops and of water-closets are scrubbed weekly, 
^swept daily and kept clean and tidy all the time. A 
separate water-closet apartment must be provided 
for each sex, with solid partitions extending from 
floor to ceiling, and with separate vestibules and 
doors. Wash-basins, with sufficient supply of water, 
in convenient and well-lighted locations, are fur- 
nished in each shop. Lockers for hanging street 

248 



Experiments in Democracy 

clothing must be provided, and separate dressing- 
rooms wherever women are working. All seats 
must have backs. ^ 

The plan adopted by the firm of Hart, Schaffner 
and Marx has worked so well in preventing friction 
that it may be used to illustrate a desirable tendency. 
The essential features of the arrangements are these: 
a kind of court was created by joint action of em- 
ployers and employees, to hear all complaints and 
redress grievances. In case of disagreement a board 
of arbitration would hear appeals. No person was 
to be discharged for belonging to a trade union and 
in employment union members were preferred in 
branches where there was an effective organization. 
'^Briefly expressed, it is simply the natural and 
healthy relation which usually exists between the 
small employer and his half-dozen workmen, artifi- 
cially restored, as far as possible, in a large-scale 
business where the real employer is a considerable 
group of executives managing thousands of workers 
according to certain established principles and poli- 
cies. . . . The successful result of these develop- 
ments has depended much less upon the formal and 
external features than upon the spirit with which it 
has been worked out.'' Of Mr. Hillman, the leaded 
of the workers, Mr. Schaffner said: '^He devel- 
oped a wonderful influence over all people who came 
in contact with him, on account of his high ideals, his 

^ For further details see article by H. Moskowitz, Ph.D., 
in Annals of the American Academy, Nov., 1912, 39 ff., and 
Bui. U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 144, Mar. 19, I9i4» 

249 



Citizens in Industry 



patience under trying circumstances, his indomitable 
faith in the ultimate success of right methods." Mr. 
Schaffner himself said: **I believe that the officers 
of a corporation are trustees of the interests of all 
connected with the institution." But, fully aware 
of the necessity of full representation of conflicting 
interests, he added: ^'Decisions affecting the inter- 
ests of any group should not be made until such in- 
terests have the opportunity to present their case. 
When there is any doubt as to the fairness of any 
decision or policy there should be a disinterested 
tribunal to review the decision." 

Seeking for a Basic Principle of Agreement, — The 
evidence taken by the Federal Industrial Commission 
in 1 9 14 revealed absolute and irreconcilable antag- 
onism between the views of employers and leaders of 
organized labor. They could not agree either as to 
facts, standards of living, theory of wages, or 
measures of relief. Under such circumstances if 
men do not fight to the bitter end it is because they 
have not the power. If they come to agreement it 
is a truce in battle to bury the dead. Men who be- 
lieve the doctrine that all the product of industry be- 
longs of right to manual wage-earners and none to 
capitalist managers will struggle to get it all, just 
because they sincerely believe it belongs to them, and 
that capitalist managers are robbers; those who 
recognize the right of managers to wages of super- 
intendence will grant a certain limited concession 
for salaries; those who recognize the justice of inter- 
est on capital will concede the current rate out of the 

250 



Experiments in Democracy 

product; but at ^^profits'' they balk, and multitudes 
have been persuaded that *'labor" only is the cause 
of the product and ought to own it all. 

On the other hand, the statements of many em- 
ployers showed that they sincerely believe the doc- 
trine that when market wages have been paid, and 
the work has been done under decent conditions, and 
the expenses of taxes, insurance, etc., have been paid, 
all the remainder of the product belongs beyond 
question to the capitalist managers. They revealed 
their belief that any interference from trade unions 
or from the public authorities was contrary to jus- 
tice, an impertinence and an evil; that they were to 
be trusted to do what was right and with no inter- 
ference or coercion from any outside power. 

Economic Wages, — One enlightened leader of a 
great corporation said, in discussing welfare meth- 
ods of his corporation: 

'*Nor have we attempted to pass upon the ques- 
tion of wages, other than to express the belief that 
in the same locality they should be fully equal to 
those paid by any other employer engaged in similar 
work. Wages are a local and independent question." 
Here is no explanation of how the ''other employ- 
ers" calculate what they ought to pay. The competi- 
tive rate is implied, not expressed. 

In another place a minimum limit is suggested— 
*'In all instances being enough to insure good health 
and efficiency." Here is at least the beginning of 
an objective and scientific standard of wages; but 
beyond the immediate capitalistic interest in a large 

251 



Citizens in Industry 



product from ^^efficiency" no hint is given that the 
workman has other needs to be satisfied if he is to 
be a worthy father, husband, citizen — human. It is 
this evasion of fundamental requirements of man- 
kind which vitiates a good deal of the economic dis- 
cussion of wages. Not to pass upon the question of 
wages in considering schemes of welfare work is to 
neglect the supreme economic question in which the 
wage-earner is interested; for his whole life de- 
pends on wages. If others neglect that problem he 
cannot and will not consent to regard it as a sec- 
ondary issue. Hitherto even these public commis- 
sions for the settlement of disputes have had no well- 
defined and generally accepted economic or ethical 
principle upon which all agreed. A compromise is 
not a rational method; it is merely a temporary de- 
vice for avoiding civil war and is a test of physical 
endurance. 

It must be plain to well-informed persons that 
agreements satisfactory to all parties in interest 
must be based on some standard or principle ac- 
cepted by all. The alternative is a continued war 
of interests, with occasional truces for the combat- 
ants to get their fighting breath and renew their 
energies for conflict; or, what is worse, resort to 
brute force and suppression of all discussion and 
agitation. This last condition is that of unorganized 
and ignorant laborers whose quiet submission is pub- 
lished abroad as proof that they are satisfied, con- 
tented and happy — frequently a very superficial and 
false judgment. The president of a corporation 

252 



Experiments in Democracy 

may know really very little of what is going on in 
the minds of the workmen in the shops or mines; he 
may be living over a volcano and not suspect it. 

One basis of agreement is affirmed by some econo- 
mists of distinction and accepted by many capitalist 
managers : the theory that competition, supply and 
demand, fix the rate of wages on a just level; a rate 
which is ethically justified because it is declared to be 
practically equivalent to the value of the products 
created by the individual wage-earner. It is some- 
times asserted that this rate, being fixed by **eco- 
nomic laws,'' cannot be changed by collective bar- 
gaining, by legislation nor by humanitarian impulses ; 
or, if this **natural rate" is modified by such arbi- 
trary and artificial methods the settlement cannot 
last, or the increase must be paid by the consumers 
of the product. It is not generally conceded that any 
increase of wages can be taken from the profit ele- 
ment of the product, although the persistent effort 
of the capitalist managers to resist the rise of wages 
might indicate their real belief that the profits would 
be affected by all that was added to wages. To this 
interpretation is added the affirmation that if wage- 
earners would improve their methods and be more 
effective and industrious they would increase the 
product and so automatically secure higher wages. 
A practical deduction from this line of reasoning is 
that any attempt to raise wages by collective bargain- 
ing, legislation or any other conscious and concerted 
effort must fail. 

The ''sliding-scale" method of adjusting wages to 
253 



Citizens in Industry 



the rise and fall of the commodity produced was 
based on some such theory; wages were to be fixed by 
considerations of the market. 

The trade unions and their advocates have put 
forward a more or less vague theory of ''a living- 
wage standard" as the starting-point for discussion 
of the rate of wages. Persons of this school of 
thought affirm that industry owes to workmen a sup- 
port for themselves and their families, and a meas- 
ure of support which will enable all to live a genu- 
ine human life; and that all calculations should start 
with this foundation. This theory requires an analy- 
sis, not only of market prices but also of family 
budgets; the assumption being that the community 
of consumers must pay all the cost involved in this 
estimate when they purchase the product. 

From the standpoint of a particular union the 
standard will be that of the families of their own 
group. But this is a sectional and partisan stand- 
ard. It does not meet ethical requirements. Only 
a minority of wage-earners are organized in unions. 
Those who are outside of unions have the same fun- 
damental human rights as the members of such as- 
sociations, without their protection. 

Therefore if we start with a standard of living 
it must include all operatives; and, logically, this 
standard should be discovered by scientific investiga- 
tion and enforced by the State and not left to the 
caprice and struggles of voluntary associations. 

This conclusion is enforced by the consideration 
that many times where organized workmen secure 

254 



Experiments in Democracy 

favorable agreements with organized employers the 
public is victimized by being compelled to pay exor- 
bitant rates for buildings, for plumbing and for other 
products of the industries included in the combina- 
tion. This burden is felt in the ''high cost of liv- 
ing," and often falls heavily on unorganized labor. 

We shall never even begin to have an accurate, 
scientific and general standard without analysis of 
human needs, estimates of costs of commodities, and 
inspection of human beings to see whether they are 
actually well fed, clothed, housed, and educated; 
and this survey must include the unorganized and un- 
skilled workers. 

Pioneer beginnings have already been made 
toward the erection of such standards and their ap- 
plication in inspection. Examples are found in pe- 
riodical medical examinations of workmen in shops, 
mills, factories, mines and on lines of transportation. 
Other illustrations are found in municipal building 
codes which fix and enforce standards of habitations; 
in the inspection of lodging houses ; in the medical in- 
spection of school children, and in the very system 
of free public schools from kindergarten to state 
university. 

State public standards of living, although still 
vaguely defined, have a real influence on employers 
themselves who are gradually applying them in their 
dealings with operatives under their control. Evi- 
dences of this are found in all the chapters of this 
volume. 

May not society have some interest in the dispute? 

^5S 



Citizens in Industry 



If disorder arises from a feeling of injustice and 
oppression; if life, property, and order are imper- 
iled; if the cost of destruction, waste, and unem- 
ployment must at last be shared by the whole people 
of the nation — should irreconcilable citizens be left 
to fight it out, or one party be whipped or starved 
into submission? Is it true that any group possessed 
of power can be trusted to use it without criticism 
or regulation? Is it not a humiliating position for 
the President of the United States to be obliged to 
beg the miners and operators of Colorado to keep 
the peace? Is that a dignified attitude for the fed- 
eral authority to be obliged to take? 

Mankind has a vast and prolonged experience 
which seems to some of us to point the way to a so- 
lution. From the dawn of time society has found it 
reasonable and necessary to make laws and set up 
courts TO decide disputes of many kinds between in- 
terested private parties. In no civilized country 
have men been left to settle their wrongs in their 
own way. The most honest man will not ask another 
man to decide what is just when there is a difference 
of judgment. Even the simple community of early 
Christians provided for arbitrators to avoid going 
to law before pagan judges. For most disputes be- 
tween individuals the law and the courts speak the 
final word. 

If anything is clear from history it is that no 
class, no private association, no group can be trusted 
with absolute power; it is sure to be abused. The 
French Revolution, tragic and savage as it was, de- 

256 



Experiments in Democracy 

cided that kings, nobles and ecclesiastics must be 
brought under the sovereign control of the nation 
itself. The Declaration of Independence and our 
Constitution are classic declarations of the belief 
that, in the last analysis, no section of the people can 
arbitrarily rule another. The abolition of slavery 
brought the excluded race finally and forever under 
the shield of the national Constitution. The arro- 
gance and unreason of men accustomed to unques- 
tioned obedience are proverbial. This does not im- 
ply that ^'men are villains a','' but only that 

When self the wavering balance shakes, 
*Tis rarely right adjusted. 

It is the State and not the grocers' association which 
is trusted to test the scales used in retail markets. 

The attitude of the most progressive and open- 
minded corporation managers is illustrated in an in- 
terview with a celebrated magnate. This gentleman 
declares that capitalistic leaders have advanced be- 
yond their positions of twenty years ago, and he said : 
*'As far as I am concerned it is largely traceable to 
Roosevelt. ... I know him well. I have consid- 
ered every suggestion for improving business con- 
ditions that he has ever made. I have tried to adopt 
many of them. . . . Whenever a newspaper or a 
magazine makes a fair and honest suggestion, I al- 
ways adopt it; but we have made a great many 
changes without suggestions from the public at all." 
When one superintendent said his own labor policy 

257 



Citizens in Industry 



was **Hit the first kicker over the head with the 
nearest shovel and throw him out!" this chief of a 
trust replied: *'That will never be the policy of 
this corporation while I am its president. . . . We 
must make it certain that the men in our employ are 
treated as well as, if not a little better than, those 
who are working for people who deal and contract 
with unions." That is the dead point! This man- 
ager of fabulous concentration of wealth and power 
will not tolerate a strong and effective organization 
of employees ; he will not wait for public action nor 
permit it if he can help; he will be divine providence 
to his subject. In the present state of trade unions 
and of politics we must admit that the practical 
man's suspicion of both is largely justified; but it 
would be to despair of the Republic, to believe that 
we must remain subject to oligarchies of self-selected 
rulers because we are unable to secure honest and 
competent government officials. 

We have already noted the fact that there is an- 
tagonism between the contemporary ^'efficiency" 
movement and the trade unions; and this conflict 
deserves further consideration in this connection. It 
is evident that no devices of checks, stop-watch es- 
pionage and cost records will secure the highest de- 
gree of industry, skill and attention so long as the 
rank and file of the workmen believe that increased 
production will mean larger profits but smaller wages 
with greater strain. Increase of profits goes at once 
into the legal ownership of the masters and remains 
in their control. The workmen know many instances 

258 



Experiments in Democracy 

where harder and more faithful work has increased 
the product but not their share of it. There is no 
necessary and automatic connection between labor 
efforts and higher wages and shorter hours. The 
workmen have reasons drawn from experience to 
show that the mysterious **law of supply and de- 
mand" is a deity which has no particular interest in 
them; and that to depend on the generosity of the 
employer is not '^business." Hence the intelligent 
workmen of all modern countries, with an unanimity 
explained only by universal experience, are looking 
either to collective bargaining or to the definition of 
rights which can be legally enforced in courts. 

The psychologist, the engineer, and perhaps the 
economist as such, have nothing directly to do with 
the ethical question of the division of the product 
which is increased by efficiency. The technical spe- 
cialist knows how he ought to build a bridge or how 
to pierce a tunnel, presupposing that the bridge or 
tunnel is desired. Whether these are desirable does 
not concern the technical scientist. The physician 
presupposes that the patient should be made well, 
and it is his professional task to adopt suitable means 
to this accepted end. So the psychologist assumes 
that goods should be manufactured at least cost 
and says to manufacturers, ''If you want this end, 
then you must proceed in this way." ^ While this 
reasoning is sound it compels practical people as 
well as students of social ethics to go down deeper 

^ See Hugo Miinsterberg : Psychology and Industrial Effi- 
ciency. 

259 



Citizens in Industry 



to examine the very assumptions of the psychotech- 
nical specialists. They assume that increased pro- 
duction by more efficient methods is desirable; but 
this is precisely what the average workingman either 
denies or regards with paralyzing skepticism; and 
until his hesitation is removed the professors of psy- 
chotechnics are trying to sail a ship without wind 
or steam. 

An absolute despot may be conscientious and re- 
ligious. He may sincerely believe that God has di- 
rectly made him ruler by divine right, and that crit- 
icism of him is treason. While the divine right of 
kings has been cast to the rubbish heap of obsolete 
ideas, that of employers has been reasserted within 
a few years. 

The modern spirit of popular government, vaguely 
designated ^'democracy," has a memory. It will have 
no star chambers, no secret procedure of trials, no 
lettres de cachet, no legislatures representing a single 
class. 

What means the Interstate Commerce Commis- 
sion but the declaration of the sovereignty of the 
nation over the powerful organization of railway 
corporations with their own interests to distort their 
moral vision? What is the significance of the fed- 
eral and state inspection of banks and life-insurance 
companies, two vast systems of business where a 
narrow clique interest has led millions into waste, 
loss and misery? The regulation and control of all 
corporations by supreme authority through recent 
legislation indicate the direction we are traveling, and 

260 



Experiments in Democracy 

history demonstrates the necessity of public protec- 
tion of public welfare. 

The healthy part of the nation is sick of the hor- 
rors of the inhuman strife in coal mines, the sabo- 
tage of murderous unions, the neglect of life-saving 
legislation by operators. ^'A plague on both your 
houses!" The next step will be the development, 
slowly and cautiously, of a tribunal to decide dis- 
putes between employers and workmen: a tribunal 
representing a nation and not a clique or a class; a 
tribunal which will lay bare the whole case, in all its 
aspects; a tribunal before which may appear the 
humblest laborer, discharged unjustly by a brutal 
foreman, and have his case heard with impartiality 
and without cost; and by means of which urban com- 
munities may be saved from submission to striking 
employees of gas works, water works, street rail- 
ways and electric-light plants. 

Knowing the history of human weakness, and of 
frailty of judgment when selfish interests are at 
stake, honest men ought not to desire arbitrary 
power, and they ought actively to seek to be relieved 
of a responsibility which they cannot discharge and 
which makes them perpetual objects of suspicion and 
hatred. 

The Erdmann Act, the Newlands Act, and re- 
lated legislation are but the crude and experimental 
form of an institution which is capable of being per- 
fected by the cooperative efforts of all who value 
peace with justice, order with humanity, and fair 
dealing with fraternity, above all absolute power 

261 



Citizens in Industry- 



over the lives and fortunes of competitors and an- 
tagonists. 

The Newlands Act (July 15, 19 13), which suc- 
ceeded the Erdmann Act, provides for the repre- 
sentation of corporations and their employees in a 
national Board of Mediation and Conciliation. This 
board is independent of other governmental depart- 
ments and is responsible directly to the President of 
the United States. It has legal authority to tender 
its good offices, whether asked to do so or not by 
one or the other party to a controversy. The arbi- 
tration board consists of six members unless, in a 
specific case, the parties concerned agree upon them. 
The limits of time within which a decision must be 
reached are fixed, and the exact question to be arbi- 
trated must be defined in advance. Witnesses are 
heard under oath and the board has large powers 
for securing the information it may need. 

Attitude of the American Federation of Labor To- 
ward Arbitration. — Mr. Gompers says: "There are 
even some workmen who with us seek to avoid the 
stress and strain of a strike, who are loud to advo- 
cate statutory compulsory investigation, state media- 
tion, and arbitration, and the pronunciamento of an 
award, with a supposed voluntary acceptance of such 
an award. They do not know that wherever these 
systems have been introduced they have led either 
to compulsory arbitration with compulsory award, 
compulsory obedience to the terms of the award, or 
else have resulted in a reaction demanding the repeal 
of the so-called state compulsory investigation and 

262 



Experiments in Democracy 

voluntary state mediation and award. . . . The 
American labor movement aims to avoid the stress 
and strain of strikes, but we are not led by glittering 
generalities or vain hopes. . . . The toilers, real- 
izing that their constant material improvement is 
necessary for the welfare and progress of the hu- 
man race, will protest or strike, law or no law, in the 
effort to accomplish their justifiable purpose. Any 
attempt by law to curb the right of the workers to 
sever their relations with their employers, to strike, 
will be resented, as it should be resented. . . . We 
want peace in industry, but we want peace with 
honor, progress and freedom. So-called peace, pur- 
chased at the price which would shackle the minds 
and the actions of the workers, is no real peace at 
all; it is the beginning of slavery."^ Surely this 
declaration cannot be the final word, however much 
provocation there may be to utter it. Law is not 
yet the exact and complete expression of the common 
welfare, but it ought to be and can be made a far 
more perfect agency of the universal good than the 
decisions of some limited voluntary organization. 
The trade unions have never yet, in any responsible 
way, announced their purpose to be anarchistic and 
disloyal. Any scheme of arbitration which leaves 
the wage-earners without defense must of course fall 
to the ground; and any law which interferes with 
the mobility of labor, the freedom of contract or 
the right of collective bargaining and striking can- 

^ Proceedings of American Federation of Labor, Dec, 
263 



Citizens in Industry 



not endure criticism. We must, therefore, confi- 
dently hope that reason and a profound respect for 
the common welfare will bring employers and unions 
upon a common platform of justice and fair deal- 
ing; and the most enlightened representatives of 
both parties can promote all measures which help to 
formulate justice defined as the requirement of na- 
tional well-being. In no country has private volun- 
tary organization alone ever been able to protect chil- 
dren, women and the unskilled against exploitation, 
to establish a universal and equitable system of acci- 
dent, sickness, invahd and old-age insurance, to pro-, 
vide a system of occupational hygiene, to maintain 
standards of control over pubhc utility corporations 
for the protection of stockholders, wage-earners and 
all consumers. Collective bargaining has a wide 
and honorable field, a necessary social function, but 
it ought itever to be regarded as a substitute for good 
government. 

Nothing more radical in principle has been pre- 
sented in this discussion than the statement of Mr. 
John D. Rockefeller, Jr., before the United States 
Commission on Industrial Relations, January 25, 
19 15. It is revolutionary in tendency as it is frank 
and courageous in spirit: 

*'In conclusion, Mr. Chairman," said Mr. Rocke- 
feller, *'quite apart from any particular situation 
may I express in utter frankness the view which as 
an individual and a citizen I hold toward the prob- 
lems into which your commission has been appointed 
to Inquire? 

264 



Experiments in Democracy 

'^I believe that the ultimate object of all activities 
in a republic should be the development of the man- 
hood of its citizens; that such manhood can be devel- 
oped to the fullest degree only under conditions of 
freedom for the individual and that industrial enter- 
prises can and should be conducted in accordance 
with these principles. I believe that a corporation 
should be deemed to consist of its stockholders, di- 
rectors, officers and employees; that the real interests 
of all are one, and that neither labor nor capital can 
permanently prosper unless the just rights of both are 
conserved. If, with the responsibilities I have and 
the opportunities given me I am able to contribute 
toward promoting the well-being of my fellow-men, 
through the lessening of injustice and the alleviation 
of human sufferings, I shall feel that it has been pos- 
sible to realize the highest purpose of my life." 

The world moves and moves upward. The impli- 
cations of free and representative government have 
been discovered and restated in economic adminis- 
tration. When rulers of society take democracy into 
their confidence they do not abdicate a throne ; rather 
they ascend to the dignity, security and honor of men 
of faith in humanity and in the divine order of the 
world. 



CHAPTER VIII 

ADMINISTRATION OF WELFARE WORK AND THE 
SOCIAL SECRETARY 

With the increasing magnitude and complexity 
of modern industry and business it is necessary 
to assign special tasks to trained persons who 
have definite duties. The capitalist manager 
whose interests have become widely extended 
and too varied for his personal attention, finds 
It Imperative to employ someone to carry out 
his ideas in relation to his welfare work of all 
kinds, vlt is this situation which has created the of- 
fice and profession of ^'social secretary." The re- 
quests for assistance are so numerous as to require 
not only constant clerical help, but the consideration 
of an educated representative capable of using dis- 
crimination and judgment.^ 

I. Functions of Social Secretaries, — In a general 
survey we may deal with four fields of activity, the 
duties of which may be so different and complex as 
to require in each of them a special agent or agents 
with qualifications and education for the particular 

^ W. H. Allen : Modern Philanthropy — which is full of 
illustrations of the bewildering calls upon the sympathy of 
a person of wealth who is known to give liberally, 

266 



Welfare Work 



tasks; (i) the shop, (2) the office, (3) the out- 
side life of employees, (4) the general charities of 
the employer. In smaller establishments one person 
may be able to meet demands in all these depart- 
ments, but in the great mills and factories several 
persons may be necessary, each with special qualifica- 
tions and training. 

The questions of coordination of welfare agents, 
of the division of labor between them, of testing 
their activities by results, of their responsibility to 
the authorities of the corporation, are important and 
must be decided by the managers according to the 
needs of each particular establishment. 

In general, the '^welfare secretaries" have influ- 
ence rather than authority, and influence is more vital 
than power. 

2. The Social Secretary in Relation with the 
Principal. — ^This relation is delicate on both sides. 
Even persons who have known each other for years 
and have rubbed elbows in congenial civic and philan- 
thropic work, on occasions, find obstacles in the way 
of psychical adjustment to the closer, continuous 
association. The trend naturally is toward con- 
fidence and intimacy. Such conditions are impos- 
sible for prescription or delimitation in a contract 
or even in a verbal agreement. The elusive factors 
of congeniality, temperament, and tact are discov- 
erable only by association, particularly in the stress 
of business. 

The principal, when the increasing volume of his 
civic, philanthropic and welfare work requires a 

267 



Citizens in Industry 



division of labor to perform it with reasonable dis- 
patch, may find difficult the surrender to another of 
a part of the field where he has been dominant down 
to the details. He may have a wholly natural dis- 
trust of the judgment and decision of another per- 
son, a salaried employee, in matters where one 
likes to act on his own opinion and where his 
money is at stake. There is an old saying that it 
is easy to spend someone else's money. Men of 
large means know, from observation, that this is 
true. 

The social secretary w^ho has the initiative and 
feels himself competent to take the bit in his teeth 
and manage his principal's social business is apt to 
chafe under the restraint of the new relation, at 
least in its initial, or probationary, stages. But he 
must remember that spurs are not won in a day; 
and tha^4ionest, capable work is sure to be rewarded 
by greater trust and authority and larger return in 
money. 

Of course, in the analysis of this relation, it be- 
comes apparent that there can be only one deciding 
mind as the various issues arise- — the mind of the 
principal. This is as it should be. However, in 
modern business life, with its many specialized de- 
partments, the executive has learned the value of 
counsel. In this capacity the social secretary, hav- 
ing the confidence of his principal, finds an attractive 
field of activity aside from the zest of investigation, 
analysis and decision. He can influence the finding 
and the action of his employer to such degree as his 

268 



Welfare Work 



information Is precise and his judgment and recom- 
mendations are sound and timely. 

The variety of subjects encountered by the so- 
cial secretary, especially one who aids the principal in 
his personal work, is so great and the details in each 
are so complex and confusing that few, if any, men 
can be found who encompass within their own capac- 
ity a masterful knowledge of all. The experienced 
principal does not expect this. But one who attempts 
the work, to be successful with his superior, must 
have a ready wit for knowing where to lay his hands 
upon the information he lacks. For this reason 
newspaper men, trained in resourcefulness in **get- 
ting things'* that are elusive, often make efficient 
social secretaries, especially in the field of the per- 
sonal philanthropies of a man of large means. Fur- 
thermore, newspaper men, who have gathered items 
about pretty much the whole realm of human expe- 
rience and told them in glib detail to the public, are 
particularly adept in knowing what matters are best 
handled in silence. Silence regarding personal af- 
fairs is a necessity for a successful relation between 
a social secretary and his chief. 

3. The Personal Relation Mediated Between 
Employer and Employee by the Social Secretary. — - 
In former times the master mechanic was person- 
ally acquainted with his hired men; he worked with 
them and conversed with them; disputes could be 
argued out, and the materials for a judgment were 
all at hand. But the great industry has alienated 
the owners from the operatives. The stockholders 

269 



Citizens in Industry 



and bondholders of a railway or steel mill are scat- 
tered over the globe. Even the directors and man- 
agers live in a different social world afar from the 
workmen. They do not understand each other; the 
conflict between profit and wages is perpetual; each 
party is watchful to protect its own interest. The 
immediate superintendents and foremen are only 
too frequently petty tyrants, fond of exercising their 
authority and eager to show returns to the officials 
above them. Griefs fester in hidden places, and the 
heart grows revengeful over a million annoyances, 
each one no more in itself than the sting of a gnat. 
The "welfare agent" has here an opportunity, on 
condition that he has the full confidence of all con- 
cerned. He may go about observing the points at 
which pain enters, where resentment is aroused, 
where personal honor is touched, where needless 
strain is imposed, where harshness in word or ges- 
ture is manifest but cannot be met with revolt. He 
may brood over methods of removing the cause of 
irritation and discuss this with the representatives of 
administration until a remedy is found. The moral 
bond is restored; the severed nerve of communica- 
tion is joined and healed; there is a better under- 
standing, and the spirit of concord is once more 
felt. 

It is often asserted that there is no philanthropy 
in welfare work. As one writer affirms of the 
*Velfare secretary": **Yet not in any sense is he 
an instrument of'philanthropy. His duty is to nour- 
ish contentment simply because contentment means 

270 



Welfare Work 



efficiency, and efficiency spells bigger dividends for 
the powers that be." Many similar statements could 
be quoted. They rest on error. Since what era 
has it become reasonable to be ashamed of kindness 
to human beings? Who has dissected the motives 
of employers and found nothing but a leather pocket 
for profits where a heart ought to be? Who has 
proved that wage-earners are incapable of friendship 
with employers? Admitting that a business must be 
made profitable in order that it may continue, who 
has a right to affirm that profit-making adequately 
explains business conduct? The ''economic man" is 
an impossible abstraction, and never did exist.^ It 
is a poor psychology which evokes the ghost of a man 
who cares for nothing but gain. 

This cant is not only false but dangerous and de- 
basing. It cannot remain popular without doing 
mischief. To boast of carrying on business without 
regard for the human operatives is shameless cyni- 
cism, and ought to exclude the boaster from decent 
society. Philanthropy is our common heritage from 
the moral achievements of our spiritual ancestors and 
it enters into all activities. Selfish disregard of 
others does exist, but it should be hidden in shame 
and confessed with penitence only In the ear of Him 
who forgives the penitent; It Is not to be flaunted as 
a virtue. Dickens described Mr. Gradgrind, but 
only as an extreme caricature of a detestable type. 
Have we come to a time when Mr. Gradgrind is to 

^ E. T. Devine : paper, National Conference of Charities 
and Correction (Memphis, 1914), p. 75. 

271 



Citizens in Industry 



be idolized? Then national ruin is not far away 
and business is a monster. 

If Business is battle, name it so; 
War crimes less will shame it so ; 
And widov/s less will blame it so. 
' Lanier — The Symphony. 

The welfare secretary is a personal witness that 
men of business are first of all men. A highly edu- 
cated and public-spirited employer voiced the domi- 
nant purpose of the better class of the group: '*I 
believe the officers are trustees of the interests of all 
connected with the institution." On this saying 
labor papers have generously remarked that a **new 
era in the relationship between capital and labor is 
at hand, an era in which the human factor in indus- 
try will be taken more and more into consideration.'' 

The Fundamental social function of business is not 
personal profit but service to the people ; when that 
purpose ceases to control we have brigandage but 
not legitimate business. 

4. Natural Qualifications of a Welfare or So- 
cial iS^cr^^^r)'.— Manifestly the representative of 
the firm must have sufficient physical health and en- 
ergy to stand up under the work required In the par- 
ticular position, which may be more or less exacting 
and trying. Vigor and good-feeling are very gener- 
ally dependent upon good digestion; one who is too 
conscious of having nerves may become Irritable and 
communicate bad temper. 

The secretary of human relations must, as a mat- 



Welfare Work 



ter of course, have tact and common sense. It may 
be difficult to find in the dictionaries and psychologies 
a very exact definition of tact, but any capable man- 
ager will soon discover its absence. The moral blun- 
derbuss plays havoc in a position where conciliation 
is of the essence of the function. 

5. The Educational Preparation of a Social Sec- 
retary for an Industrial Establishment, — If the re- 
quirements are limited to a few simple activities of 
a routine nature, a bright high-school girl, with some 
experience in life, may give satisfaction. We have 
in mind in this discussion an altogether different po- 
sition, one of responsibility, with scope for inven- 
tion and initiative. 

The following paragraphs indicate the actual 
paths by which the work of social secretary for 
women employees has been approached and en- 
tered: 

Mrs. W. taught for a number of years in a busi- 
ness college; was employed by a mercantile house 
which gave her some insight into welfare work; 
worked six months in the adjusting department of an- 
other retail house in order to become acquainted with 
the system of the store. This lady considers teach- 
ing excellent preparation for welfare work, but the 
teacher must not be of the narrow type. 

Mrs. V. was a graduate of a state university; 
taught seven years; has done newspaper work; has 
had much social experience. She says that persons 
who undertake to do welfare work must know 
people. She has had no selling experience, but knows 

?73 



Citizens in Industry 



merchandise. She is the wife of a railway purchas- 
ing agent. 

Miss R. had a general college course; one year in 
Y. W. C. A. Training School, New York City; has 
had much experience with girls' clubs. She con- 
siders a general college course better than a spe- 
cialized one as it makes one more resourceful; does 
not consider knowledge of factory processes help- 
ful; has no manual dexterity, but thinks all the proc- 
esses could be learned in a few months. 

Mrs. K. had a general education but is not a col- 
lege graduate; took one year's work at Chicago 
School of Civics and Philanthropy; kept house for 
twenty years, which she considers helpful experience; 
was active in club work and interested in civic ques- 
tions; is a widow, mother of three boys. 

Miss Z. is a trained nurse, with two years' hospital 
experience and two years in private homes; was em- 
ployed by the Tuberculosis Institute for one year 
and a half; has had some training in a normal 
school; taken a course of lectures at the School of 
Civics and Philanthropy; and taught in primary 
grades for three years. 

Miss M. is a college graduate; specialized in eco- 
nomics and sociology; from 1 908-1 909 acted as spe- 
cial agent of the U. S. Bureau of Labor, investigat- 
ing living and working conditions of women adrift; 
in 1 9 10 was visitor and assistant superintendent in an 
urban C. O. S. organization; from. 1911-1913 was 
director of charities in a small city. She recommends 
the following preparation : general college course, In- 

274 



Welfare Work 



eluding studies of sociology, general and industrial; 
courses in hygiene and sanitation; commercial geog- 
raphy; a course in trade unions, with supervised vis- 
its to industrial establishments; and actual experience 
as worker in industrial establishments in order to 
know just what are the conditions against which 
working girls must contend, especially where they 
work under a foreman. Three months of such work 
is sufficient, but in a number of establishments, so 
as to have a variety of experience. 

Miss D. taught a number of years, rural, grade, 
and high school ; paid her way through normal school 
and nearly through a state university; had nearly 
completed enough for a degree when she was offered 
her present position with a great house. She had a 
course in sociology at the normal school and one In 
the state university, but had no work in economics. 
She acted as adviser to students in a city high school; 
did some work in placing people in teaching posi- 
tions; assisted with charities in a city one sum- 
mer, sending children to the country for fresh air; 
has done much Y. W. C. A. work; thinks a course 
in a school of civics and philanthropy would be help- 
ful. She did not prepare specifically for welfare 
work. 

Mrs. W. had no specific preparation for welfare 
work, but was familiar with parish work. She be- 
gan by publishing the paper of the company and 
gradually took up welfare work. She says visiting 
nurses are selected because of ability to get into 
touch with people. 



Citizens in Industry 



Many concerns emphasize the health movement in 
their welfare work; and for this reason prefer wom- 
en with training in nursing or medicine. In fact, this 
department frequently is not called the welfare de- 
partment, but the health department. A few months 
ago the Western Electric Company decided to es- 
tablish a welfare department but put a welfare nurse 
in charge. There seems to be considerable diver- 
gence of opinion as to whether actual experience In 
the industry where the welfare work is to be done is 
necessary. One line of experience stands out con- 
spicuously in many cases, and that is teaching. It 
is highly probable that at the time when many of 
these women were beginning their life work, teaching 
was the only remunerative work open. This is par- 
ticularly true if they were not living in large cities. 
All welfare workers agree that experience in get- 
ting into touch with people is absolutely necessary 
and teaching offers an avenue for securing such ex- 
perience. 

In addition to good health, good sense, good 
taste, good manners, good character, a secretary of 
the higher order should begin with at least the knowl- 
edge and mental training indicated by a bachelors 
degree of a recognized college. The course of study 
should be carefully planned for the four years, and 
should include at least a study of English language, 
literature and history; history of modern Europe; 
chemistry, physics, biology, personal and public hy- 
giene, history of industrial development and its con- 
sequences; elementary psychology, economics, poli^ 

276 



Welfare Work 



tics and sociology, with a sketch of social politics 
(factory legislation, social insurance, etc.). A mas- 
tery of at least German and French should be added, 
since in our cosmopolitan population a secretary is at 
an advantage who knows how to acquire a modern 
language. Italian may take the place of French; 
in some localities In the South, Spanish is desirable. 
Some graduate schools of universities now are pre- 
pared to offer advanced and special courses in the 
natural and social sciences; and social secretaries find 
it to their interest, even after some experience, to 
return to the university for special kinds of informa- 
tion which they need. The most speedy and econom- 
ical method of acquiring knowledge is the systematic 
study, under competent teachers, of the fundamental 
sciences. The self-taught generally betray defects 
in accuracy, thoroughness and vision, and they do 
not know when and how to rapidly acquire informa- 
tion and weigh the value of authorities and sources. 

In close connection with this academic instruction 
in science, the candidate for social work, during 
the time of study, should be able to explore industrial 
and commercial establishments where large numbers 
of employees are gathered, and thus be able to see 
the actual conditions under which human beings live 
and labor. 

But this exploration is not enough; there must be 
apprenticeship under the direction and guidance of 
secretaries who have already gained success. It is 
not difficult during vacations to enter into such a re- 
lation with the consent of the firm, if the apprentice 

?77 



Citizens in Industry 



is well recommended and is willing to assist in the 
humblest details of the office. Such relations should 
be arranged by the college or university which be- 
comes responsible for the recommendation, and 
which assures itself that the apprentice service shall 
not be exploitation but have educational value. For 
this purpose the institution of education must em- 
ploy a director of exploration and of apprentice 
training, one who is able to guarantee sound methods 
on both sides, for both the employers and the appren- 
tices must be protected. No student should be sent 
to an office until there is assurance of serious pur- 
pose, adequate preparation, and probable fitness for 
the particular position. Employers will soon de- 
cline to accept apprentices from an institution which 
fails at this point, and whose selections are found to 
be unreliable. 

Health Conditions: Direction. — All that relates to 
safety must be planned by experts and carried out 
by persons competent to form judgments, as com- 
mittees of foremen and workmen. These devices 
have already been discussed. The relation of the 
social secretary to such matters will depend upon 
personal fitness and the needs of the situation. The 
specific arrangements for avoiding accidental inju- 
ries from machinery and process must be determined 
by qualified mechanical engineers; and thousands of 
such devices are already familiar in museums and 
in the literature of the subject. The secretary may 
be useful in inducing the employers to provide proper 
devices and in inducing the workers to use them, 

278 



Welfare Work 



In the shops which have been ''Taylorized/' the best 
modern devices for economy of human energy are 
carefully installed as essential factors in the scheme 
of efficiency. Only specialists can do this. 

The medical problems of protecting health against 
poisons, defective ventilation, and other hurtful 
conditions must be solved by expert physicians who 
have given study to these affairs. After the system 
has been established by authority of the employers, 
an intelligent and tactful secretary will often be help- 
ful in securing sympathetic cooperation of the people 
in the shop. But constant and vigilant control by 
medical men must be an essential part of the system. 
No welfare secretary who has not medical education 
can go very far in this field. 

When a great firm is about to introduce a sickness 
and accident benefit fund it should have the counsel 
and direction of an actuary. The establishment 
and administration of an insurance fund to provide 
for prolonged invalidism, old-age pensions and ben- 
efits for survivors of employees require still higher 
legal and actuarial talent, because none but special- 
ists can decide what are the conditions of a solvent 
fund. Neglect of this precaution has already ship- 
wrecked many schemes which raised great hopes only 
to create bitter reproaches and disappointment when 
the inevitable crash came. 

It Is evident that there can be no such profession 
as that of a ^'social engineer" or * Velfare secretary" 
In any general sense. The employers must deter- 
mine for themselves, upon the best available advice, 

279 



Citizens in Industry 



what they wish to do, and then they must employ 
some one qualified person or several persons to at- 
tend to the details. There is no one **science" or 
**art" which can be mastered in preparation for all 
kinds of welfare work. Quackery has already 
brought the whole matter under suspicion; and con- 
fidence can be maintained only by competent leader- 
ship. People who are thoroughly educated will not 
undertake tasks for which they are not trained. 

Women Secretaries, — Common sense demands 
that the welfare secretary in departments where 
many women and girls are employed should be a 
woman. Such employees will suffer incredibly from 
hardships and annoyances before they will carry their 
grievances to members of the administration. In- 
vestigations in mercantile houses have occasionally 
revealed abuses and moral perils which shock the 
community when published. An intelligent woman, 
especially a widow who has brought up daughters, 
is an angel of light where troops of inexperienced 
girls are brought together in a telephone office, tex- 
tile mill, or mercantile establishment. There are the 
rest-rooms which at particular times are so necessary 
and yet are so liable to misuse if they are not care- 
fully supervised. A skillful housekeeper is required 
to keep the kitchen and lunch-room under her eye. 
The magazines, newspapers, books and pictures 
which are provided for leisure moments may be any- 
thing but a blessing if they are not selected by a high- 
minded and educated woman. 

Then there are the matters relating to dress and 
^8q 



Welfare Work 



good taste in manners which are at once so difficult 
to handle and so vital to the usefulness, character 
and happiness of the girls. It is in such situations 
as these, of infinite complexity and delicacy, that we 
see how the personal and human factor must come 
in to supplement the relatively rough and clumsy 
provisions of law and of male management. Stand- 
ard devices for avoiding accidents and occupational 
diseases may be introduced over the commonwealth 
by statute; compensation, insurance and pensions 
may be made obligatory by law; a minimum wage, 
a maximum day of labor may be required by public 
authority; but the personal influence of a cultivated 
lady in a shop full of wild girls, eager for pleasure 
and unmindful of the danger, cannot be secured by 
the legislature. The field of philanthropy may seem 
to be narrow, but it is precious. No device of au- 
thority can make a wooden conscience do the work 
of spiritual ideals. But just because this voluntary 
method is so delicate is the element of personality 
so vital. 

A woman who attempts to give lessons in personal 
hygiene to girls must be thoroughly prepared for her 
task, so full of pitfalls. It is doubtful whether it 
is wise, even for a well-educated woman, to attempt 
to give instruction on this subject unless she is a phy- 
sician or trained nurse. A welfare secretary should 
at least have her instructions written out and sub- 
mitted for criticism to a physician before she asks 
her pupils to accept them as laws of life. 

An illustration of devices may be drawn from life. 
281 



Citizens in Industry 



In one week a social secretary collected small sums 
from the women to be deposited in the savings bank; 
prevented a young woman from leaving the factory 
by explaining to her the meaning of a medical order 
which lost its offensiveness when clearly interpreted 
to her; gave lessons in hygiene; settled a quarrel be- 
tween two of the employees; advised a sick girl to 
use milk instead of meat and persuaded another to 
give up her tight corset; gave a list of books to some 
who inquired about reading; taught a class in sew- 
ing; helped to secure railway tickets for a girl so 
that she could go home each night; aided several 
employees to go to a hospital or to a convalescent 
home. 

''In a distinctly fashionable shop in Boston the 
'store shoppers' who, unknown to the employers, 
make purchases and report on the treatment re- 
ceived7 commented on the barbarous English used 
by many of the girls, a thing naturally distasteful 
to a fashionable class of customers. This is an ex- 
ample of the small problems of the social secretary. 
She was expected to bring reform, an obviously fear- 
some thing to attempt with superstitious salesladies. 
In this store the department heads occasionally give 
short talks on business subjects to the employees. 
Thus, without arousing resentment, it was possible 
to bring in a humorous lecturer to launch the gram- 
mar crusade. He gave a witty character monologue 
on 'The Funny Things in Business,' dweUing par- 
ticularly upon the grammatical errors and solecisms 
he had frequently heard. There were many of them, 

282 



Welfare Work 



such as, 'We ain't kept them goods yet, ma'am.' 
His hearers were convulsed with laughter, the les- 
son had been driven home without one of them be- 
ing offended. The way thus paved, the social sec- 
retary presently introduced weekly half-hour les- 
sons in simplified business phrases such as are con- 
stantly required in department-store transactions. 
Subsequently, the scheme was expanded to take in 
lessons in writing, deportment, etc." ^ 

The direction of *Velfare" plans must be made 
an organic part of the organization and adminis- 
tration of the business as a whole. Someone has 
drawn up this scheme of the services of a business en- 
terprise : 

*^Good organization, prevention of trouble, in- 
cluding industrial, audits, consultation, legislative 
counsel, arbitration proceedings; formulating em- 
ployees' demands and employers' demands; factory 
and store hygiene reports; safety reports; reports 
on employment departments and sources of labor 
supply, on selection, training and education of work- 
ers in factories and stores, in civil service methods 
in factories, stores, railroads; promotion plans; re- 
ports on living-wage plans, profit-sharing plans, pen- 
sion and insurance plans, wages and cost of living, 
minimum wage, welfare work; reports on costs, 
waste management of efficiency work, inspection 
methods, reorganization; reports on relations 
among the personnel; installation of records of in- 

^ J. S. Lopez: "The Social Secretary/' Harper's Weekly, 
Mar. 9, 1912, p. 11. 

283 



Citizens in Industry 



dustrial relations; reports on management-sharing 
plans, committee systems, joint boards, trade agree- 
ments, facilities for industrial education and training, 
housing, surveys in connection with city and common- 
wealth planning." 

While this scheme is drawn up for an association 
of managers, it is just such a plan as would have to 
be considered by any wide-awake modern business 
corporation. It shows clearly that no one ''social 
engineer" could ever master and direct such an or- 
ganization alone; and that the general policy and 
many details must be decided upon specialist advice 
by persons in authority in the corporation or firm. 

The Ideals of the ^^Capitalist Managers.^' — The 
editors of Concordia ^ help us to see ourselves 
as others, especially Germans, see us, in a critical ar- 
ticle on the American '^Taylor" system of efHciency. 

"We^can recognize at once the entirely sober, prac- 
tical and business thinking of the American. The 
special inducements of the employers are to him 
nothing more than means of attracting the workman 
and of stimulating him to work. In this journal we 
need not once more represent to our readers that 
the entire welfare system of industrial branches, at 
least according to the German view, has a much 
deeper meaning; that in this movement another de- 
cisive factor is the endeavor to maintain a steady, 
skillful stock of operatives who take satisfaction in 
work; and that before all else the Idea of community 
in labor, mutual help, support of the weak, and, 

^ Concordia, Berlin, June i, 1914. 
284 



Welfare Work 



in other words, that higher ethical principles are es- 
sential and controlling considerations. It cannot be 
asserted that all this would disappear with the task 
system. When we survey the entire significance of 
this system, we should exactly here, where the most 
intensive increase of work speed is sought, not fail to 
urge those higher requirements, since then especially 
man as personality must be set in apposition to the 
American conception of man as a machine." 

That is not pleasant reading for a lover of the 
Union; it is an exceedingly unpalatable dose, and it 
is by no means exceptional in German criticisms of 
American industrial morality. It is not altogether a 
fair characterization of us to say, as German writers 
often do, that we are 'Worshipers of the almighty 
Dollar,*' and care nothing for working people. The 
Socialists of Germany might be quoted to show that 
the employers there are not all as tender as St. Fran- 
cis and as just as Solomon. But we can afford to 
forego a stinging reply and extract from the bitter 
fruit its wholesome lesson and try to mend our ways. 
Just because at present the ideals of the capitalist 
managers are backed by the greatest financial re- 
sources and the most concentrated social and politi- 
cal influence is it of supreme national moment that 
they guide us as a people in the right direction. 

Educating Business Managers in Social Politics. — 
Evidently the initiation and administration of 'Vel- 
fare work" lie ultimately in the hands of those who 
control and direct capital. They cannot farm out 
to others any, even the slightest, responsibility, ex- 

285 



Citizens in Industry 



cept in matters of special details. The engineering 
schools and the higher schools of business must rec- 
ognize that men are not educated for business simply 
by being trained in the technique and mechanics of 
their line of industry or commerce. In our age the 
most vital and the most complex problems have to 
do with the management of large groups of men 
whose interests and ideals are facts as solid as the 
rate of interest, the law of Gresham, or the resistance 
quality of metal or wood. The study of '^social poli- 
tics," in the largest sense of the word, must be part 
of the preparation of all ambitious young business 
men. Not even a study of law will be sufficient; for 
law expresses the judgment of men on conditions 
which have largely passed away, while many of our 
problems have to do with swift adjustment to new 
situatic^ns. Many of the best devices for improving 
physical^^ economic and spiritual welfare could never 
be required by a statute. There are three principal 
factors in successful business management: mastery 
of the technique of the industry, mastery of the tech- 
nique of the market and ability to get on with the 
workmen on a basis of humanity and justice. It is 
impossible to say which is more important. The pub- 
lic is more sensitive than formerly to abuses of power 
in industry and commerce, and adjustment of busi- 
ness to the moral demands of the nation, partly ex- 
pressed in social legislation, becomes increasingly 
necessary as a condition of success. But there is a 
further consideration which weighs heavily with a 
strong man of the highest class — they desire to be 

286 



I 



Welfare Work 



good citizens, they have ideals of service, and wish 
to be counted with Abu Ben Adhem *'as one who 
served his fellow-men." Fortunately for themselves 
and the world this idealistic vision has become a dom- 
inant factor in the lives of many of the worthiest 
representatives of the capitalist manager group. 
'^May their tribe increase'' I 



CHAPTER IX 

MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES 

The first Cooperative Safety Congress met at 
Milwaukee in 19 12; it was called by the Associa- 
tion of Iron and Steel Electrical Engineers and in 
it were represented not only the state and federal 
governments, but also great corporations, insurance 
companies and students of social politics in the large 
sense. The Chairman, Dr. Lucian W. Chaney, De- 
partment of Commerce and Labor, at the first mo- 
ment said: *'I wish to impress upon those present 
that the effort in which we have entered is distinctly 
a phase of applied Christianity; and therefore it is 
exceedingly appropriate that Vve invite Dr. Steiner, 
Professor of Applied Christianity in Grinnell Col- 
lege, to offer a word of prayer as we begin." In 
this prayer these thoughts are expressed: ''May 
our consideration of the safety of labor and the 
toiler be rewarded by a higher respect for human- 
ity as a whole, a greater regard for law, a purer 
and deeper and higher patriotism. May it (the 
work) be as solemn as it is sacred, and may it be 
as useful as we try to make it holy. We ask it all 
in the Master's name, who gave himself for the 
good of men." 

288 



Moral and Religious Influences 



THE MORAL STANDARDS IN INDUSTRY AND ITS 
ADMINISTRATION 

The mental confusion of conflicting ethical stand- 
ards is a tragical phenomenon of our times; and 
until agreement can be reached on matters of prin- 
ciple, the very conscience of men will induce them 
to fight for what they believe is right, though it is 
anti-social. Moral beliefs and judgments as to 
rights and duties are profoundly influenced by expe- 
rience, by contact with the hard realities of the 
everlasting struggle for existence and for power. 
Attention has often been called to the persistence 
down into our own times of **tribal morality" ; that 
is the recognition of the rights of persons who be- 
long to a certain group or race, while all outside 
that circle are aliens and enemies without rights. 

The mischief of this ^'tribal morality" is that it 
IS mostly below the threshold of consciousness, a 
submarine torpedo, a deadly floating mine in the 
path of travel. We live in such restricted groups 
that we know comparatively little of the inner stand- 
ards of near neighbors until an explosion occurs. We 
may be able to see the mote in our neighbor's eye and 
not discern the beam in our own. We may soon look 
down with pity or contempt upon the *'class con- 
sciousness" of a supposedly inferior class and never 
suspect, even at church, that our own bigotry is hid- 
ing our narrowness from ourselves. It must be a 
shrewd father confessor, well trained in social psy- 
chology, who Qm aid his penitent to discover whea 

289 



Citizens in Industry 



he has transgressed, when the very standards of right 
and wrong are so widely apart. 

There is need of patience and teaching, in rela- 
tion to trade unions.^ ''Deceit and fraud are always 
sanctioned by the folk-custom of persecuted or op- 
pressed groups, because it is by these means only 
that they are fitted to survive the uncontrolled domi- 
nation of a master race." 

This same tribal morality is found in shops. 
Among the unorganized laborers it takes the form 
of deceit and pretense; among the organized it may 
assume the shape of sabotage against employers and 
of club ''persuasion" of "scabs." Examples of this 
tribal morality are given by employers. "Com- 
plaints came from our men (non-union) that they 
were being abused. Hot rivets were being dropped 
on them; monkey wrenches and like objects were 
dropped on them from above, all claiming to be 
accidental. When they were remonstrated with a 
fight ensued, and twelve or thirteen of our men were 
sent to a hospital." The business agent was known 
to be a crook, yet he was retained in office by the 
union. Later the union broke its agreement; men 
were called out on flimsy pretexts and the superin- 
tendent was attacked by a riotous mob and badly in- 
jured. The output was lowered 36 per cent.^ 

Is there any remedy? Making the trade unions 
responsible in their funds by incorporation has gen- 

^Page: Trade Morals, p. 191. 

2 Mr. Piez : Testimony before the Industrial Commission, 
1^914. 

290 



Moral and Religious Influences 

erally been proposed by employers. The trade 
unions refuse this because they do not trust the 
courts. This would at best be a superficial remedy, 
of doubtful efficiency so long as the present creed of 
unions persists. That creed has been produced by 
their subjection to capitalistic management; they see 
no other way to protect themselves, to survive, ex- 
cept through deceit and sabotage, or by organizing 
a military government over against the state. The 
only way to change the creed is to remove its cause; 
when working people see and feel that they have a 
legal right to an impartial hearing, and are no 
longer under a domination which will not tolerate 
open discussion by their own representatives, the 
tribal morality will slowly yield to that permitted by 
a higher morality, that of free men in a democratic 
nation. They cling to the union in spite of the heavy 
dues, the severe discipline, financial burden, and im- 
moral methods, because, in the matter of wages, they 
have no other mode of securing quasi-public repre- 
sentation. So long as capitalistic managers deny 
that their own rule is absolute and arbitrary, no mat- 
ter how philanthropic their intentions and feelings — 
so long there will be no prospect of national morality 
replacing tribal morality, in the hearts of the wage- 
earners. 

Mr. John H. Walker, a labor leader, explained 
industrial unrest by what he called '*the double 
standard." '*A workingman is expected to do a fair 
day's work for a fair day's pay — to work at least 
eight hours a day and not to demand more than is 

291 



Citizens in Industry 



sufficient for him to maintain himself decently. No 
such restriction is placed upon the value of a business 
man's or employer's services. He is expected to get 
as much money as he can and the more he gets the 
more credit he receives. Workers feel this either 
consciously or unconsciously, and it gives them a 
sense of injustice. They feel they are nonentities 
and only so many tools, with no consideration ac- 
corded them, and that they must submit to the ca- 
price of the other side as to whether they shall have 
a living at all." 

Under such conditions the open shop is not a work- 
place; it is only a newly fortified trench for another 
battle. 

The significance of tribal morality for our discus- 
sion lies in the fact that in and through welfare work 
the managers of industry have a chance gradually to 
experirr^ent with the earlier stages of approach to a 
real democracy in industry which alone can supply 
tuition in the higher social morality. While men 
wait and hesitate Socialism lurks at the door.^ 

Religion: Dangers and Obstacles, — In a homoge- 
neous community, where a state church is at least 
passively accepted by the people of the neighbor- 
hood, the patriarchal patron may encounter no op- 
position in providing moral and spiritual agencies 
for those who are in his employment. It may be 
taken as a matter of course when he provides a 
chapel, supports a minister and offers ethical guid- 
ance at his own cost. But this idyllic condition i§ 

1 Page : Trade Morals, p. 211. 
29a 



Moral and Religious Influences 

now rare in Europe and America ; and generally the 
adult workmen resent any attempt on the part of 
their employers to interfere with their spiritual life 
or to direct their morals. Many urban workmen de- 
test what they regard as the moral standards of 
capitalists and their representatives in respect to in- 
dustrial relations. In our American cities we have 
a composite crowd of men of all creeds and of none: 
families of all tongues who have at least one thing 
in common — they cannot understand a service con- 
ducted in English. 

The antagonisms of economic strife are also likely 
to cause men to look with a degree of suspicion on 
any doctrine which is favored by the managers. The 
employee is often ready to expect some doctrine 
which teaches passive obedience while he is strug- 
gling for his rights and interests ; and he is inclined 
to imagine, when he hears of the joys of Heaven, 
that it is an attempt to divert his attention from col- 
lective bargaining for higher income in this world. 

It must be obvious that the supreme factor in ex- 
ercising moral and religious influence with employ- 
ees is the character and conduct of the employer who 
professes to hold to a high moral and religious 
standard. It is of course essential to a wholesome in- 
fluence that the employer give evidence of trying to 
live up to the current moral standards; that he be 
sober, decent, clean, just, kind and good to his fam- 
ily and neighbors. 

But of late it has become clear to many working- 
men that an employer may exhibit all the traditional 

293 



Citizens in Industry 



and conventional virtues required by the church and 
yet be to them practically a bad man. He may pay 
**good wages," have a clean shop or mill, require no 
more than legal hours of labor, and yet he may rep- 
resent to them a hard tyranny, a barrier to their 
progress, a destroyer of their hopes. The more 
sensible, logical, and instructed among them, espe- 
cially if they have imbibed the fundamental ideas 
of Socialism, may not feel direct personal hatred 
against an individual capitalist manager; they will 
say that he is just as much a dupe and slave of the 
present system as they are. They know that the 
most powerful corporation cannot at once escape 
from complicity with conditions which wreck health 
and reward those who do the hardest labor with a 
pittance and then cast them into the rubbish heap 
when they are injured or aged. The new moral re- 
quirerta^nt is that an employer give evidence that he 
Is not only trying to do the best he can for his em- 
ployees under present conditions, but that he is 
helping them change the system itself to make a 
higher morality possible. And here. In the present 
state of divided class opinion, agreement Is prac- 
tically hopeless, although it may be possible to secure 
a better understanding of the exact points at Issue. 
Gratitude Is not always to be expected. Misun- 
derstandings are inevitable; and therefore the re- 
sponsible manager of a great concern must base his 
sense of duty on some deeper, broader and more 
durable foundation than expectation of grateful rec- 
ognition. Many an employer, starting with the 

294 



Moral and Religious Influences 

hope of winning the pleased appreciation of those 
whom he sought to benefit, has been painfully dis- 
illusioned, and has given up his high project, on 
which he was ready to spend much money, with dis- 
gust, and a firm determination ever after to '*do 
business on business principles" — whatever that may 
mean — and leave philanthropy and religion to 
dreamers. Deeper reflection may temper this harsh 
conclusion, and the profound study of social evo- 
lution may explain to the philosophic mind that an- 
tagonism in social creeds arises inevitably from eco- 
nomic class struggle for a larger share of the profits. 
Only as we see that the spiritual values are in the 
calm places at ocean depths below these surface 
waves, can we retain equanimity and promote the 
eternal interests, whatever may happen in our time. 

The wisest employers know well that their duty 
should be determined by their own convictions and 
ability, not by the accidental element of appreciation 
by others. Martyrs in both science and religion have 
had bread to eat which the multitude could not dis- 
cover; if they had waited for thanks, praise or gold, 
the world would have been poorer. But time reveals 
all that is genuine ; and the honest man, however mis- 
understood, has **light in his own clear breast" and 
does his duty whether those for whom he strives 
praise or.blame. Little as some wage-earners believe 
it, there are rich men who are also men of conscience ; 
neither hypocrisy nor nobility is bounded by eco- 
nomic class lines. 

Simply on grounds of eflficiency in method the offer 
295 



Citizens in Industry 



of spiritual service must take on democratic form 
to be useful and acceptable. If a rich man wishes to 
build a church or establish a lectureship it must be 
done as a member of the community, not as a mark 
of overlordship. Many a time the artisans have 
left the fine church empty and assembled within bare 
walls in order to worship with free and sincere souls. 

Ability defines responsibility; control of some of 
the conditions of physical and soul life lies with the 
employer, whether individual capitalist or corpora- 
tion, and with control goes corresponding duty. We 
may note here some of the ways in which employers 
have made an effort to meet the requirements of 
their position. 

Libraries. — The library may be made one of the 
most attractive, popular and persuasive agencies of 
forming good character. It occupies a considerable 
place inr many ^'welfare" schemes, both in Europe 
and America. Its advantage lies in the fact that it 
is impersonal, unobtrusive, does not demand a con- 
fession of sin from its patrons, nor administer to 
them a rule of penance nor require subscription to a 
creed. Its disadvantage is that it does not offer per- 
sonal friendship, sociable interplay of thought and 
emotion, or any form of outward activity. A taste 
for good reading must be acquired, and books are 
by no means a source of joy to the primitive man. 
In spite of their limitations **good books are the life 
blood of master spirits" and, once invited to ac- 
quaintanceship, they are among the noblest allies 
of virtue and faith, 

296 



Moral and Religious Influences 

Protection of Girls in Work-places. — The protec- 
tion of girls in shops and mercantile establishments 
is a serious duty of employers, one which cannot well 
be fixed by statute. In some stores women are re- 
quired to leave the place in the evening by the front 
door in order to avoid a dark street and start on 
their way home in a lighted and protected highway. 
Detectives are sometimes employed to mark and 
punish lewd fellows of the baser sort who are always 
watching for a prey to their lust. 

Since floor-walkers and foremen have been known 
to make improper advances to girls the rule has been 
announced by certain employers that the girls can 
come directly to the head office if they have difficul- 
ties or desire to present complaints. 

An efficient woman social secretary is a good pro- 
tector of girls, and they are more apt to lay their 
grievances before her than before a man. Such a 
social secretary should be a woman who has brought 
up daughters of her own and has had wide life ex- 
perience. 

Farming Out the Task. — Some of the largest cor- 
porations in the United States have gone about the 
work of providing spiritual influences by subsidizing 
the Y. M. C. A., and, in a few cases, the Y. W. C. A., 
where girls and women were concerned. The ad- 
vantages of this course are obvious. These associa- 
tions have developed a marvelous organization and 
technique; they have recruited and trained a loyal, 
enthusiastic and able corps of agents who know 
what to do ; they are undenominational and respect- 

297 



Citizens in Industry 



ful toward those who hold different creeds or none. 
They have a genial spirit and seek to satisfy all sorts 
of legitimate wants, whether they are labeled ^'re- 
ligious" or not. They do not annoy, nor threaten, 
nor tease patrons and members. They make the dis- 
tinctly religious services as attractive and helpful 
as possible, but do not make other enjoyments of 
their privileges depend on attendance at prayer- 
meetings; so that persons who reject their creed can 
enjoy their tennis grounds and swimming pools. 

These advantages have been discussed and ap- 
preciated by many railway and other companies who 
have spent the money of stockholders, to establish 
and maintain the Y. M. C. A., on the ground that 
whatever helps character and conduct increases in- 
dustrial efficiency and hence enlarges dividends. 
Very able business men believe that this is a paying 
invest^nt. This is not the highest motive, but It 
answers the purpose of providing funds, and justi- 
fying expenditures with stockholders. 

Not only labor leaders but employers have often 
entered into friendly cooperation with the representa- 
tives of the Association. More than 300 associa- 
tions serve thousands of immigrants every year; they 
meet immigration trains, guide men to their friends, 
protect them from exploitation, find employment 
for them, take them to good boarding houses and 
attract them to ways of honesty and clean living. 
These immigrants are gathered into naturalization 
classes, taught the rights and obligations of citizen- 
ship, helped to take out their papers. In one recent 

298 



Moral and Religious Influences 

year more than 1500 teachers were employed to 
teach foreigners in 1,221 classes, and these teachers 
were, for the most part, unpaid volunteers who were 
ready to serve their fellow-men, their country and 
their God. Nearly 200,000 men were brought into 
halls, schools, vestries, social centers to listen to 
lectures upon topics of interest to industrial work- 
ers, such as : the discovery of America, independence, 
naturalization, patriotism, the life of Christ, the 
life of Lincoln, of Franklin, of Washington, or in- 
dustries of the United States. 

Colleges, universities and technical schools have 
enlisted in this service. Probably more than 3,500 
undergraduates are teaching 60,000 workingmen and 
boys each week in definite constructive service, while 
3,000 graduates are promoting the movement. ''In 
one college town through the entire winter, the son 
of a railway magnate who has 25,000 men under 
him, taught a group of foreign laborers in one of 
the worst districts of the city." These students will 
in a few years be leaders in commerce, captains of 
industry, legal advisers, members of legislatures, of- 
ficials of public administration, and they will be 
prepared for intelligent sympathy with working peo- 
ple; they will know how to manage men with less 
friction and better mutual understanding. 

Naturally these students try to help the working 
boys and men in the line of their present needs, 
holding educational classes in English, mathematics, 
mechanics, drawing, plan-reading, first aid to the 
sick and injured; but also leading in factory games 

299 



Citizens in Industry 



and sports; organizing and conducting boys' edu- 
cational, social, dramatic and athletic clubs, Boy- 
Scout patrols of factory apprentices, work of Big 
Brothers for lads with wayward tendencies, camps 
and ''hikes" in the country for Sunday outings in 
the summer.^ 

Naturally religious young men will by ivork and 
deed influence the beliefs, ideals, character and con- 
duct of these thousands of boys and men whom they 
serve. It is difficult to see how employers desiring 
to help the higher life of the employees can find a 
better agency for the purpose. 

Methods of Y. M. C. A.: in Camps, — Some con- 
crete illustrations will make clear the essential char- 
acter of this service.^ 

The man who introduces welfare work for the 
sole purpose of preventing labor disputes will prob- 
ably bWsomewhat disappointed. Real welfare work 
belongs to ''love" more than to "expediency." Yet, 
men are not wholly lacking in the industrial world 
who are willing to spend a few hundreds of dol- 
lars in a generous way to keep down discontent 
that might cost them a ten per cent, increase in 
wages. 

^ Particulars will be furnished by addressing Secretary, 
Industrial Service Movement, Y. M. C A., 124 East 28th 
St., New York City. 

2 Truman S. Vance (former Industrial Secretary, Inter- 
national Committee, Y. M. C. A., Warrenton, Va.) : Article 
entitled "Welfare Work as a Way to Prevent Labor Dis- 
putes" in Annals of the American Academy, Sept., 191 0, 
127 ff. 

300 



Moral and Religious Influences 

In the case of the Winifrede Coal Company, em- 
ploying nearly a thousand men at Winifrede, West 
Virginia, the welfare work done by the association 
helped the company in many ways in their dealing 
with their employees. The fact that the company 
officials seemed really interested in the men for their 
own good had weight with the men in time of pend- 
ing strikes, etc. In 1893 a serious strike was averted 
when the men with nearly all the surrounding com- 
panies had struck. 

**The causes of labor disputes are often as imag- 
inary as real. Without doubt there are numberless 
cases of unfair division of profits, wages, on one 
hand, and dividends on the other, being out of pro- 
portion to the service rendered; or conditions and 
surroundings of the workers may be needlessly bad. 
But often workers waste their wages in dissipation 
and are rendered surly and discontented by the 
thought that years of labor have left them nothing 
the gainer in anything. The welfare work done 
by the Young Men's and Young Women's Christian 
Associations in industrial fields wisely lets alone the 
question of wages and dividends and confines their 
work to the betterment of morals and environment. 
While I was employed looking after some cotton- 
mill work in the South, there came to me confidential 
reports of a marvelous work being done in some con- 
struction camps along the line of the Chicago, Mil- 
waukee and St. Paul Railroad extension to Seattle. 
. . . The first point where work was taken up was 
at Pontis, South Dakota, where some five hundred 

301 



Citizens In Industry 



men were building a $2,000,000 bridge over the Mis- 
souri River. Every bunkhouse was full to overflow- 
ing and many sleeping in box cars ; but the company 
agreed to send up an old passenger coach to be used 
for Y. M. C. A. purposes. Allow me to quote from 
International Secretary Day's Report: 'I found 
there was no one in charge of mail for the camp, 
and as a consequence it was brought from the little 
post-office at Flora, two miles away, at irregular in- 
tervals and dumped onto the counter, where were 
sold tobacco, overalls, etc., with the result that in 
such a promiscuous mess it was a common occur- 
rence to have letters lost, or the envelopes worn out 
before they reached the owner. Then, too, it was 
impossible for anyone to register a letter, or secure 
a draft from the bank at Mobridge, which was the 
only way for them to send money home, without 
losing ^ half-day's work. So I suggested to Mr. 
Morrison that he immediately take charge of the 
mail in the camp, build pigeon-holes for the letters 
and provide boxes for paper, etc., and also offer to 
register letters for the men and provide them with 
postage or other conveniences. We also got out 
immediately a large quantity of letterheads and 
stocked up with pens, ink, etc., and provided every 
bunkhouse with suitable writing materials and urged 
the men to write letters home, offering to mail them 
twice a day. The effect of this was that even the 
foreigners who could not understand our language 
could understand our kindness, and they felt kindly 
toward Mr. Morrison. The result of this work 

3^^ 



Moral and Religious Influences 

was that the number of letters written home in- 
creased threefold immediately.' 

*'One of the worst evils in these camps is the 
cashing of pay checks in the saloons. This is a 
great convenience to the men, because they cannot 
go to town and get their checks cashed without los- 
ing a half-day's work. The result is, that they go to 
these places after work is over, and the saloons al- 
ways make it a business to have money on hand for 
cashing these checks ; they invariably get a consider- 
able part of it back in the drinks, gambling and other 
evils which are found in such places. I was able 
to induce the banker to send the money to the 
Y. M. C. A. car on the condition that the Y. M. 
C. A. Secretary guard the money, for it is a risky 
thing to carry money three miles in a buggy in that 
country where every man is a law unto himself. At 
the appointed hour Morrison appeared at the bank 
mounted on a 'calico' broncho with a six-shooter in 
his belt, escorted the money to the camp, where 
he guarded it while it was being paid out; at the same 
time he urged each man as he received his money to 
deposit a part of it with the banker; and as a result 
over $2,000 was put back into the banker's hands 
to the credit of those hard-working men, making 
over $8,000 which these men have been induced to 
save or send home in three months that Morrison 
has been there, four times as much as they would 
have saved before. It had been customary there 
for several months to have at least fifty drunken 
men in the camp immediately following pay day, 



Citizens in Industry 



and it was an established rule that the cooks would 
get drunk. The first time the checks were cashed 
by the Y. M. C. A. there were but two drunken men 
in the camp and none of the cooks were drunk, much 
to the surprise of the management, and I imagine to 
the disappointment of the saloons at Mobridge." 

The Church, — The most economical and accept- 
able assistance to church work is a contribution of 
land, buildings or money to the religious organiza- 
tions to which the employees and their families are 
attached, but proselyting investments pay meager 
dividends. 

In this chapter no attempt will be made to dem- 
onstrate the reasonable and high value of religion 
and of the church; the arguments and evidence have 
often been presented in cogent and attractive form. 
We venture to assume a degree of interest in the 
subject lor its own sake. 

Religion cannot be ^'proved" to have value; that 
is to say, one cannot know the subjective worth of 
an experience except by living in that experience for 
himself. This is true of the enjoyment of music, 
poetry, painting, architecture and scientific pursuits, 
of morality, as well as of religion. The only 
'*proof" of the value of any of those interests is by 
living personally the life of the artist, amateur, or 
investigator, and then doubt becomes impossible. 
Some of the external and social consequences of 
morals, art and religion, on the other hand, may be 
observed by an indifferent outsider; and something 
is due to the testimony of honest souls. Supersti- 



Moral and Religious Influences 

tlon may be mixed up with very precious, sacred and 
noble feelings; but the man of discernment will not 
scorn the sense of reverence and devotion to ideals 
because it expresses itself in symbols which to the 
critic are meaningless. 

Taking our immigrant working people as they 
come to us, we may think them a horde of bigoted 
aliens, and they are likely to regard our ecclesiastical 
buildings, rites and creeds as detestable. But they 
love the ancient church in which their ancestors lived 
and died, the church which consecrated the infants 
when they were born, consoled the sorrowful, sol- 
emnized their marriages, and pierced the gloom of 
death with illuminating hopes. Superstitions and 
prejudices will gradually melt away in the light of 
knowledge. Sympathies will soon broaden with en- 
larged experience, especially if the immigrants are 
treated like human beings and become accustomed 
to justice and fair dealing. But the deep roots of 
their morality and good citizenship must not be ruth- 
lessly torn up by proselytism, ridicule or scorn. We 
must learn to look beneath the surface and discern 
the reality, the spiritual essence of the faith of the 
aliens. If we have the means to do so, we may help 
them to build their sanctuaries and support their 
priests and parochial schools. Time and community 
contacts will soften the antagonisms and prejudices. 
The newspaper, theater, conversation, political dis- 
cussions, trade-union movements, personal acquaint- 
ance, will open their minds to new ideas. Truth 
will make its own way. 

305 



Citizens In Industry 



Men's souls are narrow; let them grow; 
My brothers, we must wait. 

The justly famous Robert Owen, with all his sa- 
gacity and undoubted goodwill, failed to meet the 
religious needs of his employees because he lacked 
the historic sense and adequate imagination; he 
thought that he could make a brand-new liturgy 
which was better than evolution had produced; and 
that the people would instantly see the rationality 
of his simpler ethical creed. His plans were wrecked 
on a conception of human nature which had no jus- 
tification in experience. Churches are growths, not 
manufactured articles. And the man of means who 
wishes to help the spiritual and moral life of the 
community must take what the ages have developed 
and use it, rather than attempt to make a new insti- 
tution oh a pattern from his own fancy. Institutions 
are stubborn; they have taken time to evolve and 
they are not easily set aside. The wise leader 
will get all the good possible out of the ancient and 
sacred institutions and will modestly wait for the 
slow but sure transformations wrought by the ad- 
vance of science, criticism, and education. This is 
not only the most effective plan but it is also the 
cheapest, because it utilizes what the ages have of- 
fered ready made. The ecclesiastical plant is a free 
gift of the past; the holy influence of memory and 
reverence for the honored dead, of forefathers and 
country, of poetry and music, is something that can- 
not be extemporized. There is also the problem of 

306 



Moral and Religious Influences 

recruiting, selecting, educating and disciplining the 
pastors. Under present circumstances this requires 
the cooperation of organized and responsible eccle- 
siastical authorities who can vouch for the character 
and acquired qualifications of members of the minis- 
terial profession. The people will hardly trust free 
lances in the intimate personal relations of soul cure. 
For this reason it is unsafe to ignore the historic in- 
stitutions of the land and age and set up a merely 
local and personal establishment which must of ne- 
cessity bear the marks of individual caprice. 

Many of us would be glad to see all the churches 
in each community consolidated into one system. 
This would conform to the modern business tend- 
ency to close up the little shops which do not pay 
expenses and combine capital and labor in great es- 
tablishments provided with the best modern machin- 
ery and directed by the most capable superintendents. 
Apparently the drift of ecclesiastical life is in this 
direction, but it is a dignified and tedious glacial 
drift. The great Protestant denominations are grad- 
ually absorbing the smaller bodies which are akin, 
and union churches or federations are bringing mem- 
bers of various confessions into some kind of co- 
operative organization for practical ends. The 
charity organization societies, with their central reg- 
istration, act as a clearing house for all benevolent 
individuals and churches. The Y. M. C. A. and the 
Y. W. C. A. serve as common instruments by which 
all the Protestant churches serve the spiritual needs 
of youth. The mother church of Rome is already an 



Citizens in Industry 



international **trust" of religious forces, and asks 
no advice from the **sects." He would be an auda- 
cious prophet who would venture to predict how 
rapidly this process of consolidation may be carried 
during the next generation. If anyone is disposed to 
be too optimistic about the death of sectarianism 
his boldness may cool at the intrusion of new pes- 
tiferous dissenters disturbing the peace in the camp 
of the unionists. Evidently the human mind is ever 
brooding a nest of *4sms/' **lest one good custom 
should corrupt the world." At any rate we must, 
to be practical, trust to evolution for future combina- 
tions, while we make the best use possible of the 
sorry mess of sectarianism which our pious ancestors 
bequeathed to us along with religion itself. Salted 
with saving good humor the situation is not wholly 
bad. Theology, like politics and law, economics 
and medicine, seems to create schools as the most 
available method of securing progress. The only 
entirely quiet place, where all can lie down undis- 
turbed by differences of creed, is the last resort of 
mortals — the graveyard. Few of us prefer that snug 
harbor to the turbulent but interesting world where 
nearly everything we value is challenged by some 
differing soul. 

A Universalist merchant of our acquaintance once 
contributed to a rather narrowly orthodox church in 
our town, because his wife was a member and be- 
cause, he said, the members really seemed to feel 
they could not be good citizens without fear of hell, 
and he was interested in upholding morality in a 

308 



Moral and Religious Influences 

town where he had investments. He was gracious 
enough to admit also that they were reliable neigh- 
bors, although not as liberal as he liked. 

The Protestant manufacturer who employs many 
Catholics is entirely logical if he assists the good 
priest to build a beautiful sanctuary for the rites 
which are associated in their minds with all good- 
ness, purity and hope, although he himself agrees 
with them only in some fundamentals of faith and 
virtue. Observation demonstrates that men must 
be helped in their own way, and that it is better to 
outgrow a superstition than to have it rudely 
snatched away by a hasty hand. A man who is 
large enough to be an employer of men ought to 
be liberal enough to help men save their souls in 
their own fashion. This is the principle actually 
adopted by the most sagacious employers. They 
know that the churches are necessary institutions; 
that they have not been created by priests but have 
grown out of human needs and experiences; and 
that beneath the external differences a common life 
is growing and will assert itself some day in a 
higher unity than anyone can now foresee. What 
human nature has evolved to satisfy its deepest 
needs cannot be all bad; and what is false must 
slowly dissolve, as morning fog, before the majestic 
sun of science and education. Plant schools and 
churches side by side, and the teacher will control 
superstitions and the minister will enlarge horizons 
even to infinity. 

It is a wonderful fact that the great semi-pagan, 



Citizens In Industry 



humanist, modernist poet, Goethe, brings his greatest 
work, *Taust," to its close and climax with the pic- 
ture of the happy retrospective survey of life's 
career by a business man. Faust had been in the 
course of a long life a student, a traveler, a philos- 
opher, a sensualist, a dramatist, a ruler; had made 
experiments with every form of pleasure; but at the 
summit of his earthly career he crowns his days by 
transforming a salt desert into a fertile plain where 
for ages to come happy toilers can earn an honest 
living by cooperative labor. He makes the very 
devil himself serve his high purpose; commands 
him 

Collect a crowd of men with vigor, 

Spur by indulgence, praise, or rigor, 

Reward, allure, conscript, compel! 

Each day report me, and correctly note 
^How grown in length the undertaken moat. 

What an image of the capitalist manager summon- 
ing the bands of workmen to realize the vision and 
plans of the practical man of affairs! He cannot 
tolerate the stagnant pool in which nothing thrives. 

This stagnant pool likewise to drain 
Even now my latest and my best achieving. 
To millions let me furnish soil, 
Though not secure, yet free to active toil. 

He conjures up the picture of the bold, industrious 
race which will guard and mend his dyke and till the 
fields under its protecting wall. 

310 



Moral and Religious Influences 

Up to the brink the tide may roar without, 

And though it gnaw, to burst with force the limit, 

By common impulse all unite to hem it. 

This aged adventurer, eager in his last days, with 
blindness and night coming on, to complete his work, 
knows from experience that It is not desirable to 
bequeath sloth to a people, but only a better oppor- 
tunity for productive work, with better appliances. 

Yes! to this thought I hold with firm persistence; 
The last result of wisdom stamps it true : 
He only earns his freedom and existence 
Who daily conquers them anew. 

As we read this mighty song of the modern poet, in- 
spirer of a mighty people, we think of the American 
Capitalist Manager, the most abused of all citi- 
zens, often a colossal sinner, sometimes a cruel 
criminal; but always full of imagination, a true poet 
or maker, and often the benefactor of mankind on 
a scale granted only to the men of such vast design 
and unbroken courage. Only think what the great 
leaders of the business world have recently achieved 
— the railway system from Atlantic to Pacific, the 
tunnels through mountains, the electric cables under 
the oceans, the cotton and grain exchanges, the bank- 
ing systems, the telegraph and telephone systems, 
the hated but beneficent combinations of capital in 
manufacture of iron, steel, agricultural implements, 
textiles, and food products. And these are perma- 



Citizens in Industry 



nent possessions of mankind. If ever Socialism ap- 
propriates this magnificent apparatus, as it may in 
the unknown future, its historians will be men of 
science, and when the bitterness of battle has become 
a memory their historians will be just, and they will 
recognize the genius of these powerful business men 
of our age. Will their salaried superintendents in 
those coming times have the same vigor, inventive- 
ness, audacity, persistence, courage? At any rate, 
these works will remain, will be improved, we may 
hope may be more humanized and socialized, and en- 
joyed by countless millions. 

And such a throng I fain would see, — 
Stand on free soil among a people free! 
Then dared I hail the moment fleeing: 
"Ah, still delay — thou art so fair!" 
V_The traces cannot, of mine earthly being, 
In aeons perish, — they are there! — 
In proud fore-feeling of such lofty bliss, 
I now enjoy the highest moment — this! 

Nor should we forget the mystical hope which fol- 
lows this vision of earthly success in usefulness, 
voiced in the song of the angels as they bear up 
through the higher atmosphere the immortal part 
of Faust: 

The noble Spirit now is free, 
And saved from evil scheming; 
Whoe'er aspires unweariedly 
Is not beyond redeeming. 
312 



Moral and Religious Influences 

And if he feels the grace of Love 
That from on high is given, 
The Blessed Hosts, that w^ait above, 
Shall w^elcome him to Heaven ! 



APPENDIX 

The following list of establishments, reported to have im- 
portant welfare work, is not complete, although an earnest 
eifort has been made to secure the addresses of a consider- 
able number of typical institutions in the most important in- 
dustrial nations. Some firms and corporations are men- 
tioned in the text which are not repeated here. 



ENGLAND 

BouRNViLLE. George Cadbury 

London. Green, McAllen & Feilden, Ltd. 

S. H. Johnson & Co., Engineering Works 

South Metropolitan Gas Co. 

Wellcome & Co., Chemists 
Manchester. Westinghouse Co. 
NoRTHWiCH. Brunner, Mond & Co., Mfrs. Alkali and 

Soda 
Oldham. Piatt Bros. 
Port Sunlight. William H. Lever 
Sheffield. Cutlers' Co. 



MISCELLANEOUS 

Maggiwerke. Mills in Germany, Switzerland, France and 
Italy. 

3IS1 



Citizens in Industry 



HOLLAND 

Agenta Park. J. C. Van Marken, Mfrs. Yeast & Spirits 
Delft. Netherlands Yeast and Spirit Manufactory 

UNITED STATES 

Akron^ Ohio. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. 
Albany, N. Y. John G. Myers Co. 

Allegheny, Pa. J. H. Heinz Co. ^ 

Ambridge, Pa. American Bridge Co. ^ 

Baltimore, Md. Consolidated Gas, Electric Light & 
Power Co. 

Reinle Salmon Co. 
Bayonne, N. J. Tide Water Oil Co. 
Bethlehem, Pa. Bethlehem Steel Co. 
Beverly, Mass. United Shoe Machinery Co. 
BostoNjVMass. Boston Elevated Railway Co. 

Edison Electric Illuminating Co. 

William Filene's Sons Co. 

Forbes Lithograph Co. 

New England Telephone & Telegraph Co. 

Thomas G. Plant Co. 

Simplex Electrical Co. 

United Shoe Machinery Co. 

Walker & Pratt Mfg. Co. 
Braddock, Pa. Carnegie Steel Works 
Briarcliff Manor, N. Y. Briarcliff Farms 
Brockton, Mass. W. L. Douglas Shoe Co. 
Brooklyn, N. Y. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle 

Edison Electric Illuminating Co. 

Ironclad Manufacturing Co. 
316 



Appendix 

The Pilgrim Steam Laundry Co. 

J. H. Williams & Co. 
Buffalo, N. Y. F. N. Burt Co. 
Chicago, III. Armour & Co. 

Central Telephone Exchange 

Chicago Telephone Co. 

Commonwealth Edison Co. 

Crane Elevator Co. 

J. V. Farwell & Co. 

First National Bank of Chicago 

Hart, Schaffner & Marx 

Illinois Central Railroad Co. 

International Harvester Co. 

B. Kuppenheimer & Co. 

Libby, McNeil & Libby 

Marshall Field & Co. 

Metropolitan Trust & Savings Bank 

Montgomery Ward & Co. 

Rand McNally & Co. 

Richie Paper Box Co. 

Sears, Roebuck & Co. 

Southern Pacific Railroad Co. 

Wholesale Clothiers' Association 
Cambridge, Mass. The Riverside Press 
Camden, N. J. C. Howard Hunt Pen Co. 

Howlandcroft & Sons Co. 

Keystone Leather Co. 

R. S. Wood & Co. 
Canton^ Ohio. Cleveland Axle Manufacturing Co. 
Carlton Hill, N. J. Standard Bleachery Co. 
Chambersburg, Pa. The Chambersburg Engineering 

Co. 
Cincinnati, Ohio. Cincinnati Milling Machine Co. 



a 

Citizens in Industry ^ 

Continuation School 

Co-operative High School j 

The Lodge & Shipley Machine Tool Co. ■ 

The Miller, DuBrul & Peter Manufacturing Co. 

Procter & Gamble 1 

Cleveland, O. Cleveland Clothing Factories \ 

Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co. 

Cleveland Foundry Co. 

Cleveland Hardware Co. 

Cleveland Telephone Co. 

Cleveland Twist Drill Co. 

Consolidated Street Railway Co. 

The Joseph & Feiss Co. 

Kelly Island Line & Transportation Co. 

National Metal Trades Ass'n. 

Sherwin-Williams Paint Co. 

Technical High School 
Cold Springs, N. Y. J. B. & J. M. Cornell Co. 
CoLUMi^us, O. Kilbourne & Jacobs Manufacturing 

Co. 
Cumberland Mills, Me. S. D. Warren & Co. 
Dayton, O. Lowe Bros. Co. 

National Cash Register Co. 

Thomas Manufacturing Co. 
Denver, Colo. The Colorado Fuel & Iron Co, 

The Daniels & Fisher Stores Co. 

Denver City Tramway Co. 

Denver Gas & Electric Light Co. 

The A. T. Lewis & Son Dry Goods Co. 
Detroit, Mich. Acme White Lead Color Works 

Anderson Electric Car Co. 

Burroughs Adding Machine Co. 

Ford Automobile Co. 

318 



Appendix 

Parke, Davis & Co. 

United States Steel Co. 
Dover, N. J. H. S. Peters 
DuQuoiN, III. Majestic Coal & Coke Co. 
East Aurora, N. Y. The Roycrofters 
Easthampton, Mass. Glendale Elastic Fabric Co, 
Elgin, III. Elgin Watch Co. 
Elizabeth, N. J. American Swiss File & Tool Co. 

Samuel L. Moon & Sons Corporation 
Elizabethport, N. J. Hygienic Chemical Co. 
Elmv^o.od, R. I. Gorham Company 
Evansville, Wis. Baker Manufacturing Co. 
Fall River, Mass. Bourne Mills 

Brown Cotton Mills 
FiTCHBURG, Mass. Fitchburg & Leominster Street Ry. Co. 
Florence, N. J. R. D. Wood & Co. 
Gary, Ind. United States Steel Co. 
Graniteville, S. C. Graniteville Manufacturing Co. 
Greensboro, N. C. Proximity Manufacturing Co. 
Greenville, S. C. Monaghan Mills 
GwYNNE, Mich. Cleveland Cliffs Iron Co. 
Harrington, N. J. Driver-Harris Wire Co. 
Hartford, Conn. Continuation School 
Hawthorne, III. Western Electric Co. 
HoBOKEN, N. J. The Adolph Raudnitz Co. 

KeufEel & Esser Co. 

New York Switch & Crossing Co. 
Homestead, Pa. Carnegie Steel Works 
HoPEDALE, Mass. Draper Company, Loom Industry 
Ilion, III. The Remington Typewriter Co. 
Indianapolis, Ind. T. B. Laycock Manufacturing Co. 
IsHPEMiNG, Mich. Cleveland Cliffs Iron Co. 
Jersey City, N. J. Gibson Iron Works Co. 

319 



Citizens in Industry 



JoLiET^ III. Illinois Steel Works 
Kansas City, Mo. George B. Peck Dry Goods Co. 
Lawrence, Mass. American Woolen Co. 
Los Angeles, Cal. The Broadway Department Store 
Ludlow, Mass. Ludlow Manufacturing Association 
Lynchburg, Va. Lynchburg Cotton Mills 
Mansfield, Mass. Lowney's Chocolate Co. 
MiDDLETOWN, O. American Rolling Mills Co. 
MiLFORD, Mass. Milford Shoe Co. 
MiLLviLLE, N. J. R. D. Wood & Co. 
Milwaukee, Wis. Hoffman & Billings Manufacturing 
Co. 

Milwaukee Electric Light Co. 

Patton Paint Co. 
MiSHAWAKA, Ind. Dodge Manufacturing Co. 
MoLiNE, III. Deere & Co. 
New Haven, Conn. Boardman School 
New York, N. Y. American Iron & Steel Inst. 

Bldomingdale Bros. Employees' Mutual Aid Society 

Brewster & Co. 

Colgate & Co. 

Consolidated Gas Company 

Greenhut-Siegel-Cooper Co. 

Hotel Astor 

Interborough Rapid Transit Co. 

J. R. Keiser, Inc. 

R. H. Macy & Co. 

The McNutt Non-explosive Manufacturing Co. 

Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. 

National Biscuit Co. 

New York Edison Co. 

New York Evening Post 

New York Telephone Co. 
320 



Appendix 



The Suit and Skirt Industry 

L. E. Waterman Co. 

Werlin Quadrant Davit 
Newark, N. J. Carter, Howe & Co* 

The Ferris Bros. Co. 

National Saw Co. 

Weston Electrical Instrument Co. 
Newton, N. J. The Valentine & Bently Silk Co. 
Niagara Falls, N. Y. The Natural Food Co. 

Niagara Development Co. 

Niagara Falls Power Co. 

Shredded Wheat Co. 
North Plymouth, Mass. Plymouth Cordage Co. 
NoRWALK, O. A. B. Chase Co. 
Peacedale, R. I. Peacedale Manufacturing Co. 
Pelzer, S. C. Pelzer Manufacturing Co. 
Philadelphia, Pa. Baldwin Locomotive Works 

Burnham, Williams & Co. 

Curtis Publishing Co. 

Thomas Devlin Manufacturing Co. 

Fels & Co. 

Gimbel Bros. 

Philadelphia Electric Co. 

Philadelphia Rapid Transit Co. 

The Standard Roller Bearing Co. 

John B. Stetson Co. 

Strawbridge & Clothier 

Wanamaker's 
Pittsburgh, Pa. Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel 
& Tin Workers 

Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States 

J. H. Heinz 

National Safety Demonstration, Bureau of Mines 
321 



Citizens in Industry 



Pittsburgh Coal Co. 
East Pittsburgh. Westinghouse Electric & Manufac- 
turing Co. 
PoMPTON, N. J. Ludlum Steel & Springs Co. 
Portland, Ore. Eastern & Western Lumber Co. 
Proctor, Vt. Vermont Marble Co. 
Pro.vidence, R. I. Brown & Sharpe Manufacturing Co. 

Gorham Manufacturing Co. 

Providence Engineering Works 

Procasset Worsted Co. 
Pueblo, Colo. Colorado Fuel & Iron Co. 
Pullman, III. Pullman Palace Car Co. 
RoEBLiNG, N. J. Roebling Co. 
Salem, N. J. Ayars Machine Co. 
San Francisco, Cal. Hale Bros. 
Saugerties, N. Y. Saugerties Manufacturing Co. 
Sayreville, N. J. Sayre & Fisher Co. 
St. Louis, Mo. Ames Shovel & Tool Co. 

N. G^Nelson Manufacturing Co. 

Rankin Trade School 
Schenectady, N. Y. General Electric Co. 
ScRANTON, Pa. Scranton Railway Co. 
Seattle, Wash. The Seattle Electric Co. 
Sparrows Point, Md. Maryland Steel Co. 
Stamford, Conn. Yale & Towne Manufacturing Co. 
Syracuse, N. Y. The Solvay Process Co. 
Trenton, N. J. John Maddock & Sons 
Union, N. J. The Clifton Silk Mills 
Waltham, Mass. American Waltham Watch Co. 
Watertown, Mass. Walker & Pratt Manufacturing Co. 
West Lynn, Mass. General Electric Co. 
Westbrook, Me. S. D. Warren & Co., Cumberland Mills 
Wheeling, Va. Wheeling Steel & Iron Co. 

322 



Appendix 

WiLMERDiNG, Pa. Wcstinghouse Airbrake Co. 
Wilmington, Del. Joseph Bancroft & Sons Co. 



GERMANY 

Altena. Basse & Selve 

Altona. C. E. Gatke, Glass Factory 

Amoeneburg. Dyckerhoff & Sohne, Portlandzementfabrik 

Augsburg. Augsburger Maschinenfabrik 

Augsberger Kammgarnspinnerei 
Beckingen. Kleineisenzeugfabrik — formerly Karcher & 

Co. 
Berlin. Allgemeine Elektricitats Gesellschaft 

Berlin Banking House (S. Bleichroder) 

BoUe, C. 

Borsig, A., Machine Factory 

Fresse, Heinrich 

Gubener Hutfabrik 

Haneburg-Berliner Jalousiefabrifc 

Heymann's, Carl, Verlag 

Lowe, Ludwig 

Maggiwerke 

Resag, F. F., Zichorienfabrik 

Schultheiss' Brauerei Aktiengesellschaft 

F. A. Seiler 

Siemens & Halske 

Spindler, W., Farberei und Chemischen Waschanstalte 
Betzdorf. Jungschen Lokomotivfabrik 
BiLLEFELD. Velhagen & Klasing 
BoTTiNGERHEiM. Grosz Leder Farbenfabrik — formerly 

Fried. Bayer & Co. 
Brandenburg. Metzenthin & Sohn 
Bremen, Leopold, Engelhardt & Biermann 



citizens in Industry 



Breslau. Prussian Royal Mines. 

Wiskott, C. T., Fine Printing and Lithographing 
Cassel, Wegmann & Co. 
Clausthal. Koniglichen Obergamts 

Prussian Royal Mines 
CossKANNSDORF. Franz, Dietel & Schmitt 
Crefeld. Krahnen & Gobbers 
Danzig. Imperial Marine, Technical Instruction 
Dessau. Deutschen Kontinental Gasgesellschaft 

Schultheiss* Brauerei Aktiengesellschaft 

F. A. Seiler 

Verein Anhaltischer Arbeitgeber 
DiETRiCHSDORF. Howaldtswerke 
DoHREN. WoUwascherei und Kammerei 
DoRTMURi. Prussian Royal Mines 
Dresden. Heyden Aktiengesellschaft 

Royal Saxony State Railway 
Driesen. C. Stolz 
DuREN. ^ SchoUer Bucklers & Co. 
DussELDORF. Bruckmann & Co. 
EiSLEBEN. Mansfelder Kuferschienfen bauenden Gewerk- 

schaft 
Elberfeld. Farbenfabriken (formerly Fried. Bayer & 

Co.) 
Elbing. Loeser & WolfE, Zigarrenfabriken 

Schichau-Werft 
Essen. Theodore Goldschmidt 

Friedrich Krupp 

Emil Wolff 
Frankfurt. Gold- und Silberscheideanstalt 

Hartmann & Braun 

Heinsins, Friedrich, Zigarrenfabrik 

J. Pfungst, Schmirgelscheibenfabrik 

324 



Appendix 



Freiburg. Karl Mez 

Friedrichsort. Kaiserlichen Torpedowerkstatt 
Gerresheim. Gerresheimer Glashuttenwerke 
Gladbach. Brandts, Fr. Mechanische Weberei 

M. May & Co. 
GoLZERN. Schroderschen Papierfabrik 
GoTTiNGEN. Levin, Hermann, Woolengoods Factory 
Griez. Arnold, Friedrich, Textilwarenfirma 
GuBEN. C. G. Wilke, Hutfabrik 
GuEDLiNBURG. Arnot Gerb 
Halle. Prussian Royal Mines 
Hamburg. Hamburg American Line S. S. 
Hanover. Farbenfabrik Gunther Wagner 
Harburg. Gummi Kamm Kompagnie 

Jutefabrik 
Heilbrunn. Bruckmann & Sons, Silverware Factory 
Itzehoe. Alsenchen Portlandzementfabrik 

Chas. de Vos & Co. 
Jena. Karl Zeiss, Optical Works 
Karlsruh. Wolf und Sohn, Parfumerie und Toilettenar- 

tikelfabrik 
Karnax. Hugo Stinnes 
Kiel. Technical Instruction 

Werft Kaiserlichen 

Imperial Marine 

W. Spindler Hochster Farbwerke 
KoLN. Demhardt & Co. 

Leonhard Fietz 

W. A. Hospelt, Fabriken fur Chemische Bleiprodukte 

W. Lyondecker & Co. 

Rottweiler Pulverfabriken Vereinigten 

Van der Zypen & Charlier Co., Ltd. 
Kotzenau. Eisenwerks Marienhiitte 



Citizens in Industry 



Kriebstein. Kiibler & Niethammer, Papierfabrik 
KucHEN. Staub & Co. 

Lauchhamme. Altiengesellschaft Lauchhamme 
Laurahutten. W. Fitzner, Boilerworks 
Leinhausen. KonigHchen Eisenbahnhauptwerkstatt 
Leipzig. Ernest Kirchner & Co. 

Koerting & Mathusen 

C. Krause, Machine Works 

Mansfield, Crh. Maschinenfabrik 

Leipsiger Wollkammerei 
Lennex. John Wulfing & Sohn, Kammgarnspinnerei 
Leverkusen. Farbenfabrik (formerly Fried. Bayer & 

Co.) 
LuDWiGSBURG. AniHnfabrik 

Badischen Anilin und Sodafabrik 

Heinrich Francke Sons, Zichorienfabrik 
Luxemburg. Deutsch Luxemburgischen Bergwerks 
Magdeburg. Dr. Eugen Polte 

R. Wf 
Mainkur. Anilinfarbenfabrik (formerly Leopold, Cas- 

sella & Co.) 
Manneheim. Lanz 

Zellstofffabrik Waldhof 
Mettlach. Villery & Bock, Steingut und Mosaik- 

fabrik 
MuLBURG. Aktienzuckerfabrik 
MiJLHAUSEN. SchafEer & Co. 
MiJNCHEN. Brants, Friedrich 
Nerdingen. R. Wedekind & Co., Ltd., Chemischefabrik 

Weiler ter Meer Chemischen Fabriken 
Neunkirchen. Stumm, Gerb. 
Neusalz. J. D. Gruschwitz & Sohne, Spinnerei 
Neviges. D. Peters & Co. 



Appendix 

NiEDERWiNG. Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks 
NuRNBERG. Elektrizitatsaktiengesellschaft (formerly 
Schuckert & Co.) 

Royal Bavarian State Railway 

Siemens Schuckertwerke 

Die Vereinigte Maschinenfabrik 
Oberzell. Konig & Bauer, Maschinenfabriken 
OcHTRUP. Laurenz, Gerb. 
Offenbach. Collet & Engelhardt 
OsNABRucK. George Marienhiittc 
Passan. Brauerei Franz Stockbauer 
PiNNEBERG. Hermann Wuppermann 
PosEN. Kreise Neutomischel Herrschaft Wonson 
Potsdam. Gebr. Soran — Schneidermiihle 
Remscheid. Bergische Stahlindustrie 
RoTHE Erde. Aachener Hiittenaktienverein 
Saarbruck. Royal Prussian Mines (Koniglich Preussiche 

Bergverwaltung) 
Saarrevier. Burbacher Hiitte 

Halberger Hiitte 
ScHEFFBEK. Norddeutsche Jutespinnerei und Weberi 
ScHLiERBACH. Wachtersbacher Steingutfabrik 
ScHONEBECK. Chemischenfabrik Hermania 
Spandan. Koniglichen Munitionsfabrik 
Spindlersfeld. W. Spindler Farbei und Chemischen 
Stadbach. BaumwoUspinnerei & Weberei 

Spinnerei 
Stein. A. W. Faber Bleistiftfabrik 

Kohlenbergwerkes Rheinpreussen 
Stuttgart. G. Kuhn Machine & Boiler Works 
SuCHTELN. Gebruder Rossie 

Waldenburg. Fiirstlich Pless'chen Guterverwaltung 
WiTKQWiTZ. Witkowitz Ironworks 



Citizens In Industry 



Worms. Doerr & Reinhart, Leather Plant 

Heyl, Cornelius, Lederfabriken 
WuRTTEMBURG. Wurttembergischen Metallwaarenfabrik, 

GeisHngen. 
WuRZBURG. Biirgerlichen Brauhauses 
Zalenz. G. V. Geische's Erben 



FRANCE 

The industrial centers of France have a large number of 
excellent illustrations of "patronage/* The influence of 
Le Play, Leclaire, and many other magnanimous leaders has 
been fruitful in this field. Some have been mentioned in the 
text and others are listed in books and articles cited. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Abbe, Ernst. Vortrage, Reden und Schriften. Gustav 

Fischer. Jan., 1906. 
Abbott, Edith. Women in Industry. 
Adams, W. H., and Sumner, Helen L. Labor Problems. 
Albrecht. Handbuch der Sozialen Woldfahrt. 
Alexander, Magnus W. **The Apprenticeship System of 

the General Electric Company, at West Lynn, 

Mass.'* Annals American Academy. 
Barnum, Gertrude. "How Industrial Peace Has Been 

Brought About in the Clothing Trade." The Inde- 
pendent, Oct. 3, 1912. 
Belmont. **The Insurance Plan of the Interboro Rapid 

Transit Company." National Civic Federation, 

Tenth Annual Meeting, 1909. 
Benoit-Levy, M. Georges. "Social Secretary." Review 

of Reviews, xl, 90. 
Beygji, D. S. "Safety." Scientific American, Feb., 1914. 
Bloomfield, Meyer. "The School and the Start in Life." 

U. S. Bureau of Ed. Bui. 575, 1914. 
"Vocational Guidance." U. S. Bureau of Ed. Bui. 587, 

1914. 
Bolling^ Raynal C. "The U. S. Steel Corporation and 

Labor Conditions." Annals American Academy, 

July, 19 1 2. 
Bope^ H. "Welfare Work of the Steel Corporation." 

Survey, Feb. 15, 1913. 

329 



Citizens in Industry 



Brandeis. Women in Industry. 

BusHNELL, C. J. **The Social Aspect of the Chicago 
Stock Yards." American Journal of Sociology, vii, 

443-474. 
BusSER, S. E. "The Santa Fe Reading Room System." 

Pamphlet published by Santa Fe R. R. 
Butler, E. B. Women in the Trades. 
BuTTERWORTH. *'The Mutual Benefit Plan of Deere & 

Company." The National Civic Federation. Tenth 

Annual Meeting, 1909. 
Canaday^ William M. "Solving Life Problems in an 

Industrial City." The Dodge Idea, Mar., 1913. 
Chandler, W. L. "Views and Questions in Benefit Fund 

Discussion." The Dodge Idea, July, 1913. 
Chapman & Brany. "Gain Sharing — Profit Sharing." 

Social Betterment. 
Chenery, William L. "The International Harvester 

Co." The Chicago Evening Post, June 7, 

1^3. 

CoMSTOCK, Sarah. "Conditions in Panama." World's 
Work, 

Coolidge. "What More Than Wages?" The Century, 
xxxix, 258-270. 

CoRTELYOU^ George B. "Employees' Aid Society, Superan- 
nuation Annuities and Vacation and Sickness Allow- 
ances of the Consolidated Gas Company of New 
York." National Civic Federation, Tenth Annual 
Meeting, 1909. 

Cross, C. W. "The Apprentice System on the New York 
Central Lines." Annals American Academy, Jan., 
1909. 

Cummins, J. R. "Efficiency." American Economic Re- 
view, vi, 469-472. 

330 



Bibliography 



Dean, Arthur D. **Trade Teaching in the Boot and 
Shoe Industry/' Annals American Academy, Jan., 
1909. 

DeRoode. "Pensions as Wages." American Economic Re- 
view, June, 191 3. 

Dickie, George W. "Better Methods of Compensation 
for Workmen." Cassiers' Magazine, Jan., 1906. 

DoEHRiNG, C. F. W. "Factory Sanitation and Labor Pro- 
tection." Bui. Dept. of Labor, No. 44, Jan., 1903. 

Duncan. The Principles of Industrial Management. 

Emerson. "The Twelve Principles of Efficiency and Or- 
ganization Which Makes Their Application Possi- 
ble." Engineering Magazine, June, 1 9 10, and Sept., 
1911. 

Fay, C. R. "Copartnership." Economic Journal, Mar., 

1913. 
Fitch, John A. "The United States Steel Corporation 

and Labor " Annals American Academy, July, 

1912. 
Freeman, A. T. "The Labor System of the John B. Stet- 
son Co." Annals American Academy, xxii, 445-450. 
Frey, J. P. "Efficiency." Journal of Political Economy, 

xxi, 400-411. 
"The Relation of Scientific Management to Labor." 

American Federationist, Apr., 19 13. 
Gillette, J. M. "Culture Agencies of South Chicago." 

American Journal of Sociology, vii, 119. 
GiLMAN, N. P. A Dividend to Labor, pp. 64-75. 

Profit Sharing Between Employer and Employee. 

"Model Industries" in Peters: Labor and Capital. 

Godfrey, Hollis. "Attitude of Labor Toward Scientific 

Management." Annals American Academy, Nov., 

1912. 



Citizens in Industry 



GoMPERS, Samuel. *The Good and Bad of Welfare 
Work." American Federationist, Dec, 1913. 

Gqodrich, Arthur. '*The United States Steel Corpora- 
tion's Profit Sharing Plan." World's Work, v, 

3055. 

Guenther^ a., and Prevot, R. Die Wohlfahrts — ein- 
richtunger der Arbeitgeber in Deutschland und 
Frankreich, Leipzig, 1905. Page 190 ff. gives a list 
of German and French works on the subject. 

Harrington. Practical Hygiene 

Henderschott, F. C. ^'Corporation Schools, New York 
Edison Company." The Dodge Idea, July, 1913. 

Henderson, C. R. Industrial Insurance in the United 
States. 
Workmen's Insurance and Benefit Funds in the United 
States. 

Heyman, C. "Aufgaben und Organisation der Fabrik- 
wohlfahrtspflege in der Gegenw^art." Berlin, 
19^0. 

Hillman, Sidney^ Chief Deputy for Garment Workers, 
and Howard, Earl Dean, Chief Deputy for Hart, 
Schaffner & Marx. Arrangements for Adjusting Re- 
lations Between Hart, Schaffner & Marx and Their 
Employees, Represented by the Joint Board of Gar- 
ment Workers. 

Hugo, George B. "Conditions Fundamental to Industrial 
Peace." Annals American Academy, Nov., 1912. 

Jacobson^ Dr. Margarete. Die Arbeiter in der offent- 
lichen Armenpflege. Duncker and Humblat. Leip- 
zig, 191 1. 

Kelly, Charles J. "Adding to Efficiency in Corporation 
School Idea." The Dodge Idea, July, 1913. 

Lewis, E. St. Elmo. "Educational Work, Burroughs Add- 



Bibliography 



ing Machine Co., Detroit/' The Dodge Idea, July, 

1913. 

Lewis, Lawrence. "Uplifting 17,000 Employees." 
World's Work, ix, 5939. 

Lincoln, J. T. "A Manufacturer's Point of View." At- 
lantic Monthly, xcviii, 289-295. 

Lopez, John S. *'The Social Secretary, the Man Who 
Makes His Business the Adjustment of Troubles Be- 
tween Workmen and Employer." Harper s Weekly, 
Mar. 9, 1912. 

Low, Seth. "The National Civic Federation and Indus- 
trial Peace." Annals of the American Academy, 
Nov., 1912. 

Maule, Mary K. "What Is a Shop Girl's Life? Her 
Pay, Hours, Home?" World's Work, Sept., 1907. 

Maxwell^ George. "Is a Fixed Wage Just?" World's 
Work, iv, 2631. 

McCleary, James T. "Big Business and Labor." An- 
nals American Academy, July, 19 1 2. 

McVey, F. L. "The Social Effects of the Eight Hour 
Day." American Journal of Sociology, Jan., 1 903. 

Menhia, Budgett. Model Factories and Villages, 1905. 

Menkel, William. "Welfare Work on American Rail- 
roads." Review of Reviews, xxxviii, 449-463. 

MosKOWiTZ, Henry. "The Joint Board of Sanitary Con- 
trol in the Cloak, Suit and Skirt Industry of New 
York City." Annals American Academy, Nov., 
1912. 

MouLTON, W. H. "Compensation for Injured Workmen 
in Discharge of Their Duty." National Civic Fed- 
eration, Tenth Annual Meeting, 1909. 

MuMFORD^ John K. "The Heart of a Soulless Corpora- 
tion," Harpers Weekly, July 18, 1908. 

333 



Citizens in Industry 



Nathan, Maud. *The Social Secretary." Worlcts 
Work, IV, 2IOO. 

Nearing, Scott. Women in Industry. 

Oechelhausen, W. Die Socialen Aufgaben der Arbeit- 
geber, 1887. 

Oliver. Dangerous Trades. 

Owen, Robert. A New View of Society, 181 7. 

Pangborn. "Organized Relief." National Civic Federa- 
tion, Tenth Annual Meeting, 1909. 

Parker. ''Should the Industry Bear the Burden Incident 
to Industrial Accident?" National Civic Federation, 
Tenth Annual Meeting, 1909. 

Perkins, George W. "The International Harvester Com- 
pany." National Civic Federation, Tenth Annual 
Meeting, 1909. 

Phillips, R. E. "The Betterment of Working Life." 
World's Work J Dec, 1900. 
"Self Help to Employees." World's Work, 1, 389. 
"Sl\aring Prosperity." World's Work, May, 1 901. 

PiORKOWSKi, Major. "The Krupp Company's Methods." 
National Civic Federation, Ninth Annual Meeting, 
1908. 

Porter, H. F. J. "Industrial Betterment in the Iron 
and Steel Industry." Cassiers' Magazine, June, 
1901. 
"The Suggestion System," Cassiers* Magazine, July, 
1905. 

Pratt, E. E. "A New Industrial Democracy." Annals 
American Academy, Nov., 19 12. 

Ramsey, F. W. "Obligation to Safeguard Machinery and 
the Compensation Plan of the Cleveland Foundry 
Company." National Civic Federation, Tenth An- 
nual Meeting, 1909. 

334 



Bibliography 



Ranney, George A. "An Address." National Civic Fed- 
eration, Tenth Annual Meeting, 1909. 

Rayburn, C. C. "The Testimony of an Employee.'* The 
Chautauquan, xliii, 332-334. 

Redfern, Joseph N. "The Railroad Relief Departments." 
National Civic Federation, Tenth Annual Meeting, 
1909. 

Redfield. American Journal of Sociology, vii, 473-474. 

Richardson^ Dorothy. The Long Day. 

RoBBiNS, Hayes. "The Personal Factor in the Labor 
Problem." Atlantic Monthly, xcix, 729-736. 

RoSENAU, M. J. Preventive Medicine. 

RuMELEY, E. A. "Mr. Ford's Plan to Share Profits." 
World's Work, April, 19 14. 

RuSKiN. Unto This Last, Munera Pulveris, etc. 

Saunders, W. L. "Ingersoll Rand Co. — Mutual Benefit 
Association." National Civic Federation, Tenth An- 
nual Meeting, 1909. 

Scott, Leroy. "Better Conditions for Workers." World's 
Work, July, 1905. 

Sebald, N. E. Die Arbeitslosigkeit, ihre statistiche erfas- 
sung und ihre Bekampfburg. Heft i der Mitteilun- 
gen des stadtischen Amtes der Stadt Niirnberg. 

Shadwell, a. Industrial Efficiency. 

Stead, W. T. "Model Industries" in Peters: Labor and 
Capital. 

Tarbell^ Ida. "The Golden Rule in Business." Ameri- 
can Magazine, 1914-1915. 

Taylor, F. W. "Principles of Scientific Management in 
Shop Management." Copyright, 191 1, by Frederick 
W. Taylor. 

Titus, E. K. "An Instructive Factory Village." World's 
Work, ix, 5752. 

335 



Citizens in Industry 



ToLMAN, W. H. 'The Factory for All: All for the Fac- 
tory.'' World's Workj iii, 1879, Mar., 1902. 
"How a Manufacturing Concern Promotes Industrial 
Hygiene." International Conference of Hygiene and 
Dermography, 19 12. 
"Model Industries" in Peters: Labor and Capital. 
"What More Than Wages?" "Social Engineering." 
The Century J xxxix, 258-270. 

TowNE, Henry R. "Prevention versus Cure in Industrial 
Operations." National Civic Federation, Tenth An- 
nual Meeting, 1909. 

Trueblood, Lyra Dale. "A Twentieth Century Attempt 
at Housing the Workers." Arena, Nov., 1905. 

Waldo, Fullerton L. "What Employers Say of Profit 
Sharing." World's Work, v, 2853. 

Webb, S. B. Industrial Democracy. 

Webb and Cox. The Eight Hours Day. 

Williams, John. "Harmful Effects of Industrial Combi- 
nations on Labor Conditions." Annals American 
Academy, July, 1912. 

Woods and Kennedy. Young Working Girls. 

Woodward, R. S. "Beneficial Effects of Industrial Com- 
binations on Labor Conditions." Annals American 
Academy, July, 1912. 

WuEST, Robert. "Industrial Betterment Activities of the 
National Metal Trades Association." Annals Amer- 
ican Academy, Nov., 1912. 

MISCELLANEOUS 

Armour & Company. Soziale Praxis, xxi, 438, Jan. 4, 19 12. 
"Benefit Funds in German Companies." Soziale Praxis, 
xxi, 281, Nov. 30, 1911. 



1 



Bibliography 



Bulletin 123, U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 15, 
1913. "Employers' Welfare Work/' 

Bulletin 127, U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Occupa- 
tional Diseases and Hygiene of Industry." 

Bulletin 133, U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. "British 
Board of Trade's Inquiry into Industrial Apartments." 

Bulletins of Industrial Commission of Wisconsin. Reports 
of State Factory Inspectors. 

Franz Brandt's Concordia, Nov., 19 14. 

Current Opinion, Feb. 14, 19 14. "Enlightened Selfishness." 

A Guide to Reading in Social Ethics and Allied Subjects, by 
Teachers in Harvard University, 19 10. 

The Harvester World, published by the International Har- 
vester Co. 

Illinois State Federation of Labor's Report on Vocational 
Education, 19 14. 

The Insurance Press, N. Y. "Safety Engineering." 

The Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.'s pamphlet on Wel- 
fare Work. 

The National Cash Register Weekly, published by National 
Cash Register Co., Dayton, Ohio. 

The National Electric Light Association's Public Policy 
Committee Report, 191 1. 

National Housing Association's Proceedings, iii, 1913. 
"Housing of Employees at Industrial Plant." 

"Officers' and Workers' Benefit Funds in German Stock 
Companies." Soziale Praxis, xxi, Sept. 26, 19 12. 

The Operating Bulletin, published by Chicago Telephone Co. 

Rail £5f Wire, June, 1913, Milwaukee Electric Railway & 
Light Co. 

Review of Reviews, xxxviii, 450. 

Santa Fe Railroad's booklets on "Safety." 

The Telephone Review, published by N. Y. Telephone Co. 

337 



Citizens In Industry i 

U. S. Shoe Machinery Company's Pamphlet, *'The Story of 

the Three Partners." 
The Wooltex News, published by H. Black & Co., Cleveland, 
Ohio. 

Telephone Employees 
Outlook J Ixxxii, 231-239. 
Review of Reviews, xxxv, 579-580. 
Survey, xxiv, 60-64. 
Survey, xxx, 621-623. 
World To-Day, xx, 239-241. 

Butler, E. B. Women and the Trades, pp. 282-292. 
"Investigations of Telephone Companies." Sixty-first 
Congress, Second Session, 1909- 19 10, xlix. 
Social Secretaries 
Craftsman, x, 489-493. 
Harper s Weekly, lii, 22-24, July li, 1908. 
lii, 22-23, July 18, 1908. 
Ivi, II-I2, Mar. 9, 1910 (Men). 
Review of Reviews, xxxiv, 223-224; xl, 90-91. 



INDEX 



Accident insurance, 151-152. 
Addams, Jane, cited, 192. 
Adler, Felix, on child labor, 14. 
Alcoholism, 80-81. 
Alexander, M. W.. on safety, 

112. 
Allen, W. H., cited, 266. 
Arbitration, 262-263. 
Art, 222. 
Association of Iron and Steel 

and Electrical Engineers, 

111-112. 

Barnum, Gertrude, cited, 246. 
Benefit funds, 158-159. 
Boehmert, 122. 
Bowen, cited, 189. 
Brandeis, Louis, on charge of 

depreciation, 162. 
on working- women, 92-93. 
British Cooperative Stores, 120. 
Buecher, Karl, cited, 186. 
Building and loan associations, 

239. 

Campbell, Robert D., cited, 

103. 
Capitalist managers, 2-6, 187. 
Chandler, W. L., cited, 158- 

159. 
Chapin, R. C, standard for 

dwellings, 173. 
Child labor, 215-216. 
Church, 304-306. 
federation, 307. 
Cleanliness, 69. 
Contagious diseases, 73, 



Continuation schools, 
German, 206-207. 
United States, 210. 

Cooperation, Rochdale Plan, 
239-240. 

Cooperative Safety Congress, 
288. 

Cooperative schools, associa- 
tions of, 21. 

Cooperative stores, 150. 

Corporations, 7. 

Cotton mills, condition in, 45, 
46. 

Crane, R. T., on employees as 
stockholders, 132. 

Culture, for adults, 220-221. 

De Forest and Veiller, cited, 

178. 
Democracy in industry, 265. 
Devine E. T., cited, 271. 
Dewey, John, on industrial 

education, 208-209. 
Dining-rooms, in workshops, 

76-77. 
Dramatic entertainment, 229- 

230. 
Duncan, cited, 20. 

Education, in political science, 

240-241. 
Eleanor clubs, 198. 
Emerson, cited, 142. 
Employees, homes of, 163. 

rights of, 163. 

stock ownership by, 139. 
Erdmann Act, 261. 



339 



Index 



Evans, Dr. W. A., on working- 
men's compensation acts, 
114. 

Factory legislation, 56. 
Fay, on cooperation, 239. 
Frey, John P., cited, 145 

on welfare work, 27. 
Fines, 162. 

Fitch, John A., workingmen's 
pensions, 167. 

German progress, reasons for, 
203. 

Germania Insurance Company, 
100. 

Godfrey on scientific manage- 
ment, 214-217. 

Gompers, on arbitration, 262- 
263. 
on welfare work, 25. 

Goodfellow club, 38-39. 

Great industry, 2-3. 

Harriman, VMrs. J. Borden, 

cited, 46. 
Hartness, cited, 21. 
Healy, Dr., cited, 71. 
Henderschott, F. C., cited, 202. 
Herkner, Anne, on child labor, 

215-216. 
Holmes, J. A., on cooperation, 

23. 
Homes, for working boys in 

Germany, 190. 
for working girls, 194. 
Hours of labor, 85-88 
Housekeeping, instruction in, 

218 
Houses, German workingmen's, 

175. 
tenement, 178. 
workingmen's, 171-172. 
Housing conditions, Liverpool, 

171-172. 



Hygienic instruction, 82. 
Hygienic measures in workshop, 
74. 

India, working girls' homes in, 
195. 

Industrial accidents, 59-60. 

Industrial commission, Wiscon- 
sin, 61. 

Industrial efficiency, 49, 142. 

Industrial Revolution, 28. 

Industrial Safety, National 
Council of, 63, 103-105. 

Ingalls, Melville E., on profit- 
sharing, 125. 

Insurance companies, 113. 

International Harvester Com- 
pany, accident indemnity 
of, 155-156. 
report of, 100. 
sick benefits of, 155-156. 

Invention, encouragement of, 
145-147. 

Japan, working girls' homes in, 
194. 

Kales, cited, 243. 

Kley, B., on housing conditions, 

175. 
Kropotkin, cited, 179. 

Labor disputes, causes of, 301. 

Landscape gardening, 220. 

Legislation, 237. 

Library, advantages of, 296. 

Life insurance, 162. 

Living wage standard, 254. 

Loans, 151. 

Lopez, on social secretary, 283. 

Low, Seth, cited, 164. 

Manhattan Trust Company, 

101 
Manual training schools, 205. 



340 



Index 



Maule, Mary K., on savings of 
shop girls, 149. 
on working girls' homes, 196. 
McCormick, C. H., on indus- 
trial problems, 8. 
Medical examination, 71. 
Moral standards, 289. 
Moskowitz, cited, 249. 
Miinsterberg, Hugo, cited, 259. 
Music, 231-232. 

National Association of Manu- 
facturers, 112, 212. 

National Metal Trades Asso- 
ciation, 211. 

Natorp, cited, 230. 

Neighborhood centers, 242-243. 

Neighborhood improvement as- 
sociations, 225. 

Newlands Act, 262. 

Octavia Hill method, 185. 
Overtime, 84. 

Page, on trade morals, 290. 
Paris, working girls' homes in, 

197. 
Patten, cited, 6. 
Patthoff, Dr. Heinze, cited, 17. 
Pensions, 156. 

private, 166. 

workingmen's, 41. 
Piece-price, 134-135. 
Post, C. W., on welfare work, 

21. 
Premiums for fidelity, 137-138. 
Price, C. W., cited, 13. 
Profits, annual distribution of, 

133. 
Profit-sharing, 117ff. 

Ford Automobile Co. and, 
180-181. 

Halsey method of, 136. 

in France, 121. 

in Germany, 122. 



in Great Britain, 120. 

in United States, 123. 

objections to, 130. 

results of, 128. 
Protection, of girls, 297. 

of women, 91-96. 
Pullman Co., model town of, 
176. 

Ramsey, F. W., cited, 22. 
Reading-rooms, 223-225. 
Recreation, for employees, 90- 

91. 
Recreation rooms, 89. 
Religion, dangers and obstacles 

in, 292-295. 
Representation in management, 

238. 
Rest, 83. 

Riis, Jacob, cited, 171. 
Rockefeller, John D., Jr., on 

democracy in industry, 

264-265. 
Ruskin, John, cited, 50. 

Safety, 53-54. 

museums of, 68. 
Safety devices, 105-106. 
Safety health measures, cost of, 

98. 
Safety inspector, 63-64. 
Savings, 148. 
in mercantile establishments, 

149. 
Savings banks for minors, 149. 
Schloss,D.A., 117. 
Scientific management, 140- 

141, 213. 
Shadwell, on profit-sharing, 

124. 
Shaw, L. G., on inspection of 

workingmen's dwellings, 

181-184. 
Sickness and accident benefits, 

279. 



341 



Index 



Small, A. W., on modern indus- 
try, 165. 
Social insurance in Germany, 

161. 
Social secretary, 226ff. 
educational preparation of a, 

273. 
natural qualifications of a, 
272. 
Socialism, 50, 51, 165, 235. 
Socialists, 4. 
Spoils system, 163. 
Standard of living, 254-255. 

Taylor, F. W., cited, 140-141, 

144. 
Trade unions, 235. 
Tolman, W. H., welfare work, 

22. 
Tuberculosis, 72, 73, 81. 

Vance, Truman S., on Y. M. C. 

A. welfare work, 300. 
Vanderlip, Frank, on social 

legislation, 237. 
Van Marken, J. C, cited, 

138. 
Ventilation, 79. 
Visiting nurse, 98. 
Vocational ability, 215. 
Vocational education, 202ff. 



Voluntary organization of bet- 
terment methods, 245ff. 

United States Steel Corpora- 
tion, 100. 
University extension, 226-228. 

Wages, 251. 

of working girls, 191-192. 
Ward, L. F., cited, 201. 
Warren, B. S., responsibility of 

employers, 57-58. 
Welfare work, 17-21. 
advantages of, 130-131. 
construction camps and, 301- 

303. 
German, 30-31. 
of Illinois Steel Company, 

34-41. 
type of American, 32-33. 
Williams, Arthur, on educa- 
tion, 202. 
on profit-sharing, 126. 
Williams, John, on the working- 
man, 28. 
Women secretaries, 280-282. 
Workmen's compensation, 153. 
Wuest, Robert, cited, 212. 

Young Men's Christian Asso- 
ciation, 297. 



(i) 






"liiii 



hMllll:.!!!') 



Ii-iiiii;! i iil'ij 

Tr;!|iiPli 

' I.I 'ii :' I 



Hi.;!!! 



mm ' 



■'iiii'l. 

ill 
lillii 



lii 



Ul,i:i|;ii!|j;i .. 

Wfft 

i'fflh; 'ii: 

"ih t I (It '(',;' 



i iiiii 



jlili lliiii!! 

a lii 



ii 



y 

I 



iliiilllllP pi 

iiiiiiiiiiiiil il|- 

,„, M 

t! ! 



■:!i!!l!i 

i.iii.i;! 



II l! 



m 



ifii 
liii 



liii 



ill 



"!l!lil!il 



